Courier Six
by HunterBerserkerWolf
Summary: In an attempt to surpass the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto attempts the Flying Thunder God Technique. Burrowing a hole through space and time so recklessly is never a good idea as Naruto finds out. Lady Luck shines on Naruto though as he makes it back to his own world after spending a decade in the Mojave Wasteland. After struggling to survive so long, will Naruto be the same?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: In an attempt to surpass the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto attempts the Flying Thunder God Technique. Burrowing a hole through space and time so recklessly is never a good idea as Naruto finds out. Lady Luck shines on Naruto though as he makes it back to his own world after spending a decade in the Mojave Wasteland. After struggling to survive so long, will Naruto be the same?

A/N: Okay Kiddies! This here is an important notice. The actual Mojave Desert is vastly larger than the in-game Mojave Wasteland, by about a factor of four. A little less I think. Anyways, using my author's prerogative, I have decided, for the sake of this story, that the Mojave Wasteland will be about twice as large as what it is in-game. Still smaller than the Mojave Desert.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Fallout Series. I make no profit from this story.

Naruto: Courier Six

Naruto stormed away from the hospital. His fury was digging into him rather fiercely. He knew that Kakashi was a favorites playing son of a bitch, but this was crossing the line entirely too much. Naruto thought that Kakashi would be willing to train him if he showed the silver haired Jonin that he was worth the time. Making it to the finals of the Chunin Exams was certainly worth something, right?

Naruto had thought so.

Apparently he was wrong.

_Flash Back (Hospital Fifteen minutes ago)_

_Naruto bounced on his feet a little bit, trying to keep his excitement in check. He knew that Kakashi would be checking on Sasuke, so Naruto went to the hospital to check on Sasuke. But the receptionist was blocking his way. "What do you mean I can't see my own teammate?" Naruto asked_

"_Sasuke-san is resting. That's not something he can do with the likes of you around. Now get out of here before I call for the guards to escort you out of here." The Receptionist said not even looking up at Naruto._

"_There won't be any need for that; I'll take it from here." Naruto turned to see Kakashi walking up in a lazy manner as always and with his nose in his book._

"_Hey Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, bounding up to the silver haired Jonin. "When can we start training for the finals?"_

_Kakashi glanced up from his book, and saw the hopeful look on the blonde's face. Kakashi sighed and snapped his book closed in his hand."We won't be training Naruto. I'm going to devote my time to training Sasuke."_

_Naruto blinked twice. "Wait, you're not training me any? The hell?! That's some blatant favoritism, what happens when me and Sasuke meet in the second round?"_

_Kakashi gave a snort. "If, Naruto, not when, if. You have to beat Neji first; something I highly doubt is possible. Your Ninjutsu library is limited to three Jutsu at most, your Taijutsu is horrendous, and your Genjutsu is non-existent. I would have to re-train you from the ground up, something that frankly I do not have the time for." Kakashi shrugged. "You'll just have to wait for your promotion to the next Exams, if your Sensei at the time thinks you're ready. When Sasuke makes Chunin, I'll be apprenticing him full time."_

_Naruto clenched his fist tight, digging his nails into his palm. "So that's it? That's the aim? Team 7 is nothing to you?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth._

_Kakashi looked to the angry blonde. "No Naruto, you are nothing. You can't even begin to control your chakra; you're still having difficulty performing the basic tree-walking exercise while I know everyone else in your graduating group can do the much more advanced Water-Walking exercise. Suffice to say, I'm washing my hands of you."_

_Naruto gritted his teeth until he felt one crack. "Fine then, you train your butt buddy Uchiha up. When, not if Hatake, I meet him in the second round, I will destroy him." Naruto turned and stormed off, washing his hands of his Sensei. _

_End Flashback_

Naruto was just stomping really, letting his anger roll off of him in waves. Once again he was the butt of someone's joke. He had only meant to be alive long enough to get Sasuke to the finals of the Chunin Exams, it pissed Naruto off rather thoroughly.

Naruto made it to the Hot Springs where he heard some perverted giggling. Naruto was already seething, and he couldn't stand perverts at the moment. He turned and looked at the white haired man looking over the fence and jotting things down in a notebook.

That wasn't going to fly for Naruto in his rage induced haze.

"Oi! Pervert! You have five seconds to get down from there before I beat your ass." Naruto said, walking towards the pervert slowly.

The white haired man turned and looked at the blonde for a moment. He was surprised to see the angry blonde, but he wasn't going to let that show. "And you think you can really beat my ass? Do you know who I am?" the white haired man said leaping down from the tree.

"Oh… Tell me that we're doing this. You really don't want anything of this right now." Naruto said cracking his knuckles.

"Don't want any of what? All four feet of you?" the white haired man said. He didn't think the blonde would be so stupid as to attack someone without knowing their name.

Naruto lowered his head before dashing forward. He still had problems circulating his chakra and so making it go to his limbs proved to be a problem, but he still managed as he charged at the pervert. He brought his hands up to a crossed shaped hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he called out, summoning up three clones, or trying to at least. He ended up with five. That was just fine.

The white haired pervert gave a small flash of surprise at seeing the five clones pop into existence. He jumped over the one going for a baseball slide, his jump lead into a spin kick that caught one clone in the head, making it puff from existence. He landed and with a palm strike he popped another. He stomped his foot down in a step before performing a double palm strike to another two. He then went low, sweeping out both the original and the remaining clone from behind. He leapt back and summoned a toad in mid air.

"I am feared in the West, Loved in the East, Worshipped in the North, and Vilified in the South! Men the world over speak of my name in awe and Women scream my name in pleasure! I am the Great Toad Sage, one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya!" the pervert said as he landed in a strange Kabuki pose on the back of the toad

Naruto blinked from his place on the ground, looking at the crazy old man who had just beat his ass into the ground and made it look easy. Worse yet, Naruto could tell that the old man hadn't even really tried.

Jiraiya hopped off the toad and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He wanted to see something. "Now then," he grabbed the blonde by the collar of his jacket. "I have research to do, so scram." He said and threw the blonde towards the hot springs water.

Instead of sticking to the surface, like any Shinobi worth their salt would do, Naruto sank and Jiraiya frowned a moment. "What's that brat Kakashi teaching him?" Jiraiya wondered before stepping out onto the surface of the water.

Naruto surfaced, breathing in deeply and coughing. "Hot!" he called out and moved to get out. He then turned to look at the perverted man that threw him into the water with a glare. Naruto was briefly surprised though to see that Jiraiya was standing on the surface of the water.

"What Gaki, don't you know the water-walking technique yet?" Jiraiya asked, actually sitting on the water just to rile the blonde up. Minato had known it by the age of ten, Kushina eleven. So surely Naruto would know it, Kakashi would have taught it.

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger. "No." he said flatly. "My sensei has only taught me that he's a hypocrite that breaks his own damned rules and tree-walking. Even then he thinks I suck at it, but ever since I saw that snake guy in the forest and he slammed his fingers into my stomach, I've been having difficulty with my chakra." Not like Jiraiya could help with that, so he said it anyways.

Jiraiya frowned and stood up. He walked over to the blonde and noticed that the blonde was preparing for another fight. "Raise your shirt up and channel your chakra." He said in a sharp tone. Jiraiya had the tone, the charisma of a natural born leader, but he never had the drive to do it. It was why he refused the hat.

Naruto unzipped his wet jacket and raised the mesh up over his stomach. He channeled his chakra, as wild and untamed as it was.

Jiraiya knelt down and looked at the seal. "Odd over even… when it came to seals you were always an idiot." Jiraiya cracked his knuckled. "Five Pronged Elemental Seal: Release!" he shouted, driving his finger tips into Naruto's stomach.

Naruto was driven backwards by the force of the strike, coughing a bit. But it was like a dam flooded open, and he was bursting with chakra once more. He actually felt like it was possible to control it. He leapt over onto a wall, not overlooking the hot springs, and stuck to it like glue. He wasn't even coming off of it either, something that was awesome in his book.

Jiraiya watched the blonde. There was much he was going to have to do, something he wasn't too thrilled about but given the circumstances, it was time that he started doing his duties. "Gaki, get down from there. I'm going to be taking over your training for a while."

Naruto leapt down and looked at Jiraiya. "Wait a moment…" Naruto said as he walked over to Jiraiya and studied the man's face. "You trained the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto recognized the name now, and the face. He had studied hard and memorized every useable fact he could about the Yondaime Hokage, considered the greatest Hokage of Konoha. Naruto would surpass the man; it was something he swore long ago.

"Oh ho, so you have heard of the mighty Jiraiya!" the pervert proclaimed loudly.

"Of course, you trained the Yondaime Hokage. You said you're going to train me for a while right? Could you teach me seals? Please? I want to surpass all the past Hokage and I figured I might as well start with the Yondaime's Specialty." Naruto asked excitedly.

Jiraiya was momentarily surprised, remembering when Minato had asked him to teach him seals. "Sure Gaki, I'll teach you seals, I'll even put my research on hold. Under one condition."

"Name it." Naruto said simply, bouncing on his heels a bit. He would meet the condition head on!

Jiraiya stepped to the other side of the water. "You make it all the way over to me on the first try with walking on the water. Here's a tip. It's just like the tree exercise, only made difficult by the water."

Naruto bit the tip of his tongue and moved over to the water. He looked down at the water, his first try? Naruto took a deep breath and calmed himself before stepping out onto the water with one foot. He channeled his chakra to it and stepped carefully, trying not to break the tension of the water. He felt the water slip from one side of his foot and he adjusted, cutting off the chakra from the other side of the foot, making his foot sink into the water a bit. He pumped chakra to his foot and soon had it on the water. He hadn't quite sunk, and Jiraiya hadn't called off the exercise.

Naruto took another deep breath and realized exactly why it was so hard. The water was constantly shifting, something that would make the walking difficult. He had to constantly adjust his chakra to the smallest little degree. He took a second step; he didn't fall into the water. Naruto kept his mind completely focused on the chakra flow into the water.

Jiraiya watched the blonde with a small smile on his face. Naruto was actually doing it on his first try, far better than Minato or Kushina had done. Naruto had more chakra to control too, making the feat all the more impressive. A frown though worked on his face as he thought something sour. What sort of negligence had the boy gone through that he would try so damned hard to get the training? He was going to train the boy either way; he just thought he'd give some incentive.

Jiraiya's frown continued as he watched Naruto struggle across the water. He and Kakashi were going to be having quite a few words in the near future. Jiraiya even was thinking from an unbiased military standpoint. Naruto was the Jinchuriki of Konoha. His powers needed to be trained and refined to a razor's edge. Something had definitely gone wrong in Naruto's rearing and some heads were going to have to answer.

Naruto finally got across to dry land and stepped up onto it, looking to Jiraiya's serious face. "I made it across." He said and panted a little bit. It had been a struggle, taming that wild chakra like that.

Jiraiya nodded. "And so I will teach you. What Jutsu do you know?"

"I know the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, and my original Sexy Jutsu." Naruto said with a puff of his chest, proud of his original Jutsu.

Jiraiya was sorely tempted to ask, but he viciously stomped that idea down. It was his godson, he didn't want to be having perverted thoughts like that of a boy near thirty years his junior, or of a boy nonetheless. Jiraiya liked breasts, heaving womanly breasts that were on a proper woman! "Hmm, I might just be able to whip you into a half-way decent Shinobi then." Jiraiya nodded to himself. He had to keep his mind out of the gutter and nothing would slip his mind. "Alright then, follow me." Jiraiya then turned and began to walk off, glancing over his shoulder to watch as Naruto followed with a slightly confused look on his face.

Naruto was admittedly curious when Jiraiya led him into the Hokage's tower, going to a secure room guarded by ANBU. They stiffened ever so slightly as Jiraiya led Naruto in and the blonde began to look around.

"This room contains some of Konoha's best known techniques." Jiraiya said. "It is not opened to the general public and you need clearance of Special Jonin or higher to even enter it. In your case, you are with me, so you're allowed." Jiraiya led the blonde over to a case and stood to the side of it.

Naruto peered inside; the case was about three feet in width and about four feet in length. Inside was an unrolled scroll, taking up the bottom half of the case from edge to edge. On the scroll was some of the most complex hand writing Naruto had ever seen. It all looked like scribbling to him and the scroll barely had any room not covered by the hand writing. Above the scroll, in the top half of the case was ten three-pronged kunai with slightly larger hilts with the markings engraved on them.

"This is what many Seal Users agree on as the pinnacle of Sealing. This is the Flying Thunder God Technique." Jiraiya said watching Naruto's eyes widen. "You wish to surpass the Yondaime Hokage? Then you had better understand the audacious task you set before you. We're talking a technique that burrows through time and space, removing a living object from one instance and putting it into another. I have spent about a decade in my free time studying a copy of this scroll." Jiraiya said and shook his head.

"Minato had been a genius of the highest caliber. Even I, his sensei and Master of the Sealing Arts, have been unable to decipher it. It was something that Minato used to hold over my head, joking with me about it from time to time." Jiraiya said and sighed softly, remembering his old student.

Naruto looked over the scroll once more and he felt something inside of him. Pride maybe? Naruto wasn't sure. "I will learn this technique." Naruto whispered in slight reverence of the technique. "I'll learn it and I'll make it even better." Naruto may sound full of himself, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try.

Jiraiya snorted. "Not now Gaki, you don't know a damned thing about Sealing techniques." Jiraiya then led the blonde outside, leading the boy over to the academy where Jiraiya would have plenty of space to work with.

Over the next several days, Jiraiya launched into the theory of Seals, teaching hands on and letting Naruto experiment. Of course, when Jiraiya had Naruto experiment they did not stay in the academy, instead going to a training ground. Naruto's experiments tended to blow up due to various writing quirks.

Jiraiya even had Naruto use his clones to practice his calligraphy. Jiraiya didn't tell Naruto the secret behind the clones, simply thinking that Naruto already knew of it. How was Jiraiya to know otherwise?

Naruto hadn't been idle himself. He trained himself in speed, pushing himself daily to run around something ten times and to try and beat his time. At first, it had been his apartment building. Ten times around that was quite a workout, especially at top speed. But in three days he got to where it wasn't enough of a burn in his chest. He then chose to run around the block. In four days, that was no longer worth running around.

Next had been the academy building and the academy training grounds. Jiraiya even encouraged Naruto to do the run, wanting the blonde to be faster. It took Naruto a week to get to where that no longer constituted as a work out. Naruto ran around his apartment building ten times after he finished the academy building and the academy training grounds, his time had been cut in half.

Naruto also worked on stealth. Naruto acknowledged Jiraiya to be far better at stealth than he was. In fact, it started as a simple game of Shinobi Hide and Seek and Jiraiya, to give Naruto an advantage, wouldn't use chakra and would move from his spot every ten minutes, forcing Jiraiya out into the open some more.

Naruto never caught Jiraiya, plain and simple.

Once Jiraiya got done gloating, he got down to business and practically hammered stealth into the blonde's skull. Worse yet, when it was occurring, Jiraiya sealed Naruto's chakra, making the exercises that much more difficult.

Jiraiya got a kick out of sending Naruto to steal the underwear of several Kunoichi for stealth training.

On an off-handed note, Sarutobi also couldn't keep a grin off of his face. When asked about it, he mentioned that Jiraiya had plenty of… inspiration for his next few books.

Naruto gained an undesired and completely rational fear of Kunoichi at the same time while he gained stealth training. Needless to say, Naruto tried his damned hardest not to get caught ever.

Two weeks might not seem like a very long time to gain the stealth abilities he wanted/needed, but Naruto felt like he was ready.

He was going to slip into the vault that Jiraiya showed him, swap out the Flying Thunder God Technique scroll, and he would learn it. He only had sixteen days to do it, but he was positive that he could manage.

Naruto had spent several hours of his free time, watching the rotating ANBU. They moved with rather precise efficiency. In fact, there was only one time during the entire two weeks of watching that he figured he could enter and grab the scroll.

As far as Naruto's observations went, the ANBU shifted guard duty every eight hours. Every Tuesday and Thursday, one of the ANBU took a smoke break that last five minutes every four hours. Two ANBU guarded the room at all times, except during these five minute intervals.

Naruto went about the planning like he would a prank. It was… extremely difficult.

First his stealth was put to the test the hours before the Nighttime guard shift. His objective: Swap the cigarettes that the ANBU smoked. Nicotine was the addictive property that made smokers keep going back to them. By swapping out the cigarettes with a decoy that tasted, smelled, and looked like the cigarettes the ANBU smoked, only with much less nicotine in them, Naruto planned to make the five minute interval take longer, or happen more frequently.

Naruto ended up getting caught on his way out of swapping the cigarettes, but he managed to lie on the spot saying he wanted to visit Neko because he hadn't seen her in a while.

The next part of the puzzle was to remove the second ANBU. Naruto had an intriguing idea about that. He took some glass marbles, fragile things really that were mainly for show, and painted them a matte black. They wouldn't catch in the light and they wouldn't be seen zipping through the shadows. But they made this rather loud crack when they hit something hard enough, enough to draw attention. He would send the ANBU on a goose chase hopefully; just long enough for Naruto to slip in and out.

The third part was the copy of the Flying Thunder God Technique scroll. Naruto didn't have one; he didn't have access to one. Something like that wasn't in the library either. Jiraiya unexpectedly gave Naruto the answer.

Jiraiya never got rid of his copy of the scroll; Naruto just had to lift it off of his Sensei and then replace it with another fake. Jiraiya didn't look at it a whole lot from what Naruto had seen; apparently getting what he could from ten years of work.

The problem was Jiraiya would be just as challenging as the ANBU to fool. Once again, Jiraiya had proven to be the key to get over this problem. Jiraiya proclaimed to be a Super Pervert once, just once, during the entire two weeks that Naruto worked with the Sannin. Naruto hated doing it, but he resorted to using his Harem Jutsu on Jiraiya; it worked like a charm and Naruto had a copy of the Yondaime's technique

He just hoped when all was said and done that Jiraiya nor the Sandaime would be too upset.

Making a decoy scroll was possibly the easiest part of the job, and he tucked it in Jiraiya's pack while the white haired Sannin was still unconscious.

Then came the night of actually doing the job which would be the hardest part of the entire thing but Naruto was determined he would pull it off. Naruto had a sack of the marbles at his waist and he wore a matte black outfit. Well okay, it was one of his jump suits stained in black sealing ink. Naruto used one of his shirts, dyed black, and wrapped it around his head and face, hiding it except for his eyes.

Naruto stood in a hallway tucked tight against the shadows. He was using his stealth training to the max, having sealed off his chakra to make his attempt that much more successful. Like clockwork, at 0200 hours, the ANBU walked out of the room and headed down a hallway, his steps muffled but not entirely silent. Only when Naruto could no longer hear him did he slip forward and glanced in the doorway to see the ANBU still on guard.

Naruto slipped his hand into the pouch and drew out five of the marbles. He slipped into a further away shadow and slung one of the marbles down another hallway, opposite the one of the smoke.

It traveled through the air for a while and Naruto tucked himself up against the wall a bit more. CRACK! It broke against the wall, causing the ANBU on duty to walk out, drawing the sword from his back. Naruto licked his lips. These guys weren't messing around.

Naruto slipped to the edge of the hallway, just behind the ANBU's back, the ANBU who was looking around. Naruto tucked another marble against his thumb and forefinger and he squatted with the shadows. He then flicked the marble down the hallway even further.

CRACK! The ANBU slung out a shuriken. Naruto slowly slipped by while the ANBU moved over to check on his shuriken and what he had heard.

Naruto looked at the case with the detailed scroll of the Yondaime's technique. He crossed the room and pulled a bobby pin out along with a kunai. He licked his lips before biting his lower lip while he felt for the tumblers of the lock. When he felt as though he popped them open, he used the kunai to twist the lock, popping the case open.

Naruto took out the original scroll and quickly unrolled the scroll Jiraiya had. He swapped them out and quickly rolled the original one up and tucked it inside his jacket where it would stay safe hopefully. Naruto had every intention of bringing the scroll back, he wasn't going to steal it; he was just borrowing it.

Naruto also had a valid reason as to why he wanted the original scroll. Jiraiya's scroll had some very minute but very detrimental writer's quirks. They would throw off what Naruto would be deciphering. That isn't to say that Naruto wouldn't be able to understand even with Jiraiya's writing quirk, but sometimes he wrote out the Kanji for 'Ta' and it ended up looking like a number.

It caused a problem when Naruto ended up writing the wrong thing, having copied it from the board Jiraiya wrote on, and instead had a large scale explosive instead of a sealing technique.

Naruto glanced at the clock to the side of the wall. Five minutes had passed since the ANBU left to go on a smoke break. Naruto glanced out of the door and noticed the smoking ANBU wasn't returning just yet. Naruto glanced out of the room, noticing the second ANBU returning. Naruto then launched a marble down the hall towards the first ANBU. CRACK! The Second instantly went on guard and began to move down the hallway once more. The trick would never work again, three times? Twice was coincidence. Three times was a diversion.

Still, it was a diversion Naruto was able to capitalize on one final time as he moved his way through the halls and out of the building. He sincerely hoped that he didn't need the Tri-Pronged Kunai for the technique.

Over the next few days, Naruto studied the hell out of the technique. It was maddening, but he could have sworn that a few of the symbols he had seen elsewhere. The entire technique was like absolute gibberish.

At least until one day Naruto was studying with Jiraiya.

At the beginning of their training, Jiraiya offered Naruto a journal, telling him that the previous owner of the journal was dead and that, out of respect, Jiraiya never looked at it. The owner of the Sealing Journal had wished for it to go to Naruto and Naruto only.

Jiraiya wouldn't say much on the matter, but on the front of it in flowing red letters was the name _Uzumaki Kushina._

Naruto's mouth had gone dry at the possibilities, was it an Aunt, a Cousin, a Grandmother, maybe his own mother?

Still, Naruto learned a lot from the journal. On the margins, Kushina had written a code of sorts, a sealing code. It was here that Naruto first learned the first step towards the Flying Thunder God Technique.

The Yondaime wrote his technique in the Sealing Code that Kushina Uzumaki had used, a Code that the Uzumaki Clan knew. Once Naruto had a place of reference, deciphering the technique was rather simple.

Still, by the time Naruto was even starting to learn the technique, he had ten days until the exam and he hadn't even tried it yet.

Naruto ended up jumping the gun a little bit.

Making the seal wasn't hard, nor was tapping into it. He stood in an abandoned clearing and re-read his notes on the technique before he grabbed a kunai. He threw it towards a tree. In the back of his mind, he felt the slight tickling sensation before he felt a jerk behind his naval.

In a yellow flash, Naruto was just… gone.

Naruto groaned from his position face down in the dirt and slowly got up to his hands and knees. "Oh my head." He whispered softly as he soon sat up on his knees looking out over the new place he was in. It was… a barren wasteland.

Naruto began to look around, reaching into his pouch. 'What in the hell!?" he shouted out loud as he drew a kunai and held it at the ready. He was breathing heavier, this was not Konoha. Where was he!?

Naruto paused and looked around for something to get up on, to try and find his bearings, but as far as the eye could see he didn't see any trees, or any hills. It was just a barren wasteland!

Naruto found something jutting into the air, something that rose high and looked like a sign of some sort. He ran over to it and began to climb up it, sticking to the sides with his chakra. When he got up, the sight surrounding him astounded him. As far as the eye could see, he was in a desert of some sort with trails leading all over the place. Ruined buildings were also jutting out of the landscape, some looking truly destroyed. "Where am I?" he asked, falling to his knees on top of the large sign.

He wasn't in Konoha anymore that was for certain.

Naruto slowly climbed down and he turned his head hearing this strange sound. He spotted a large lizard thing that ran on two legs at him. It had large hungry looking eyes too. Naruto threw the kunai he had in hand still, and nailed the creature in the head, making it drop dead, sliding to a halt in front of him.

This alerted him to another four.

Naruto's supply of kunai wasn't great, but he quickly dispatched the creatures, some of them taking two or three kunai. He quickly set to work grabbing his throwing knives. Until he knew more, he had to be careful.

He had seen a village towards the North. Maybe he could get more information there.

Naruto took off at a quick run. He had no idea how far away the village was, or town, or whatever the hell it was. Naruto knew he could run about a seven minute mile, but he was already feeling the heat. He knew it was getting darker, and he could feel his footsteps were feeling a little sluggish.

The Flying Thunder God Technique was draining as all hell.

Not to mention every few hundred feet or so, Naruto was engaged in combat once more. It was getting draining and he had nothing to drink. Sweat poured off of his face and eventually he removed his jump suit jacket and tied it around his waist before he started to continue to run.

Good grief, how far was this place? It had to of been about three hours already, sweat was pouring off of his face and he was about ready to keel over.

Naruto stopped running and started to walk, knowing it would slow him down a great deal. Hopefully though, it would allow him to conserve energy.

Naruto even walked through the night. He didn't dare to stop, but as he kept going he saw a wooden contraption to the side of one large building and he knew he was nearing the village he was heading to. He wiped the sweat off of his face and kept going, breathing harder as he struggled to keep moving. He fell down a cliff, panting a little bit. Even at night, the wasteland was hot.

Naruto struggled to his feet, heat exhaustion and minor dehydration starting to take their tolls. Naruto walked forward a few feet, managing to get in front of one of the buildings before falling face first into the ground. He was assuredly unconscious. His last thoughts were that maybe a nap would do him some good.

In the morning a man walked out of the building that Naruto had collapsed in front of. He had dark wrinkled skin and white hair. He took an inhale of a cigarette, looking down at the blonde individual. "Well… will you look at that?" he asked before he leaned down and picked the boy up. "Hmm, kind of scrawny, maybe we can get him back up. Probably had a heat stroke, I'm not seeing any water to drink on the boy." The man said as he carried Naruto inside, struggling a little bit with him.

"Ruby! Roll out the spare bed; we have a live one here. Doesn't look like any Powder Ganger I've ever seen." He called out to his wife who was cooking. Mm, Radscorpion Venom Casserole tonight.

"Johnson?" his wife asked, stepping out from the back, noticing the limp blonde in his hands. She moved quickly, going to the store room they had cleaned out for her husband's trading. She grabbed the spare bed and rolled it out, pushing it up against the wall. She watched as he then laid the blonde boy on the bed.

"I wonder who he is." Ruby said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him. "Poor dear, likely suffered from the heat."

Johnson moved over to a cabinet and grabbed a bottle of water. He then moved over and sat by the boy on the edge of the bed. "Son, son…" he lightly smacked the kid on the cheeks until he was awake. "I got some water, I want you to try and drink it." Whether the blonde understood or not was irrelevant, he unscrewed the cap and began to slowly pour the water into the boy's mouth.

The boy coughed a little bit, some fluid spilling back out of his mouth but he kept drinking the water until the bottle was gone.

"That's good son, get some rest. We'll try to get some food in you later with some more water." Johnson had no idea if the boy understood him or not, he gave no mention, but before Johnson finished his remarks, the blonde was asleep once more.

Ruby looked over at her husband and the blonde. "Will he be okay?" she asked sounding genuinely worried.

"I'm not a doctor Ruby." Johnson said crossing his arms. "But I think so."

Hours later, Naruto woke up again to the dark skinned man above him, speaking strangely and trying to get some water in his system. Naruto drank the water again, but this time he stayed awake and he slowly sat up, pushing himself up. He rubbed his eyes a bit and then looked to the dark skinned elderly man. "Where… Where am I?" Naruto asked.

Johnson scratched his chin, unable to really understand what the blonde had said. He stood up and went over to the broken night stand beside his bed and opened it up. From the drawer, he grabbed an old vault Pip-boy that he had found a long time ago. He strapped it on his arm and went over, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Can you understand me?" Johnson asked as he powered the Pip-Boy up and activated the language program on it.

They had been designed to store several different languages on them so that people could communicate with one another and even learn different languages. Johnson never really found a use for the damned thing, but he figured that it might help now.

"What?" Naruto asked unable to understand the dark-haired man. "Can you not understand me? Where am I? Where is Konoha?" Naruto was starting to get a little fearful.

Johnson glanced down at his Pip-Boy. He had gotten quite the language sample, at least enough for the Pip-Boy to recognize the language. Hmm, the blonde boy was Japanese? Johnson wondered where Japan was, maps of the world weren't quite abundant as they used to be. He switched the old device to diction mode, letting him speak into it and it would say his words in the Japanese language. "Can you understand me now? What's your name? Where's your home? How'd you come to the Mojave Wasteland son? My name is Johnson Nash, my wife over there is Ruby Nash, and you're in the settlement of Primm."

Naruto blinked as he could hear both the words the old man was speaking, the strange language, but also his native language almost over top of it. "Yes, I understand you Johnson-san." Naruto said and he watched the man's eyes dart down to look at the small device on his wrist. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My home is… is Konoha, one of the…" Naruto clamped down on his mouth and shook his head. "Never mind, I came to this… strange place in a yellow flash." He said.

'_A yellow flash?' _ Johnson thought to himself. He didn't understand the significance of it though so he brushed it to the side. "Well Naruto, why don't we get you some food in your stomach?" Johnson heard a rumble from Naruto's stomach and laughed a little bit as the blonde sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

Over the next several days, Naruto quickly learned how to survive in the Mojave Wasteland, though not many in Primm were able to show Naruto how to hold a gun and be comfortable with it, so Naruto stuck with his Kunai and Shuriken. Naruto really liked the place, hard work was rewarded and everyone pulled their weight in Primm.

Still, Naruto used his free time to learn the language and to continue deciphering the Flying Thunder God Technique. He had to get home! Maybe by knowing what he did wrong, he'd be able to do a repeat performance back to Konoha.

Unfortunately, everything he ended up trying only got Naruto performing the technique properly and it left him with endless frustration!

The Nash's seemed sympathetic, but they just couldn't understand why Naruto was upset, especially when he started speaking fast enough that his words would run together and the Pip-Boy couldn't follow.

Still, they felt Naruto was learning at a quick rate. He had a decent enough grasp on the language already, from working with the Pip-Boy, that he could understand what they were saying. He also did the work of ten people with that interesting ability of his to replicate himself.

But Johnson had a problem that he hoped the blonde could help him with. He didn't particularly want to send the boy out, but his options were rather limited at the moment.

Courier 5 had declined the contract to make a run up to New Vegas and Courier Six hadn't reported in yet.

"Naruto!" Johnson called out, looking over at the field that the boy had dug out by himself for some plants that the people of Primm could grow.

Naruto glanced over, hearing his name called out. He then walked down, heading over to Johnson. "Yeah?' he asked, noticing Johnson looking at the strange device on his arm. Johnson had tried to explain it to him, but he couldn't quite understand.

"Can you run? Run for a long distance quickly?" Johnson asked, crossing his arms

Naruto bobbed his head in a nod. "Yes, part of my training included running." Not like he was Lee though, he wasn't that damned fast.

Johnson nodded to himself. "I need you to take a package northward for me. Can you do that? You remember seeing the tall white spire while you've been on the rooftops?" Something Johnson just couldn't understand.

Naruto nodded again. It had amazed him that something could be as tall as to be seen from where he was at. "What will I be paid in?"

Johnson scratched his chin. That was the kicker. Naruto had no problem earning his keep, but he was asking for something beyond that and so he would have to pay the blonde something. He still couldn't believe that the boy was an honest to God Shinobi, but the proof was in the pudding somewhat. The blonde was able to do things that Johnson could only gasp at. "I'll give you supplies for the trip, and throw in my old Pip-Boy." Johnson said, bargaining.

Naruto nodded once more. A few hours later, he was heading off with several Pre-War books, as they were called around Primm, on his person, several bottles of water, an old canteen, food, and even medicine. Despite Johnson's warning to head south and loop around, Naruto headed north, wanting to get the run over with.

Naruto had no problems doing the work, but they cut into his free time to train and study. Naruto was still trying to get home. It had nothing to do with the Chunin Exams; those had passed him by about a week ago.

Naruto was about three days into the run, he wasn't going full tilt like he had before, and had about another two days before he would reach his destination when his run went to Hell. He was resting for the night, having started a camp fire. He didn't notice someone creeping up from behind him as he worked through the language courses built into the Pip-Boy. He could speak in basic sentences, in English, but occasionally he still ended up slipping into his native Language, which according to the machine on his arm was Japanese

A metal clang was heard and Naruto slumped to the side, unconscious from being hit behind with something metal.

Naruto groaned as he slowly woke up several hours later to the sound of shoveling. His eyes snapped open when he couldn't move his arms; they were bound to his side. He glanced up by the glow of lantern light to a man in a white and black checkered business suit smoking a cigarette. "Oh, you're awake." The man said and put the cigarette out under his heel; motioning to the five leather clad individuals he was with.

Naruto glared at the man and grit his teeth, trying to break the bonds that were holding him. He was going to hurt the slimy little fucker when he got out.

"Ooh such a scary glare." The man in white said crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at Naruto. "Sorry kid, but… it's just business." The man said pulling out the platinum chip that Naruto had been tasked with delivering to Mr. House.

Naruto lunged, not even thinking about the binds. Something impacted with his sternum, driving all the air out of his lungs. Naruto even felt a few ribs crack.

"Sorry kid, just business." The man in white drew an ivory side arm and put it to Naruto's head before pulling the trigger.

Naruto slumped to the side, landing in the grave. Unnoticed was the slightly red glow around the wound.

"Let's get out of here." The man in white said before holstering his gun and walking off with his compatriots.

Had the three waited, they would have seen a blue robot bobbing up the train to the grave. "Well I'll be… he's still alive. Come on compadre, let's get you to Doc Mitchell." The blonde was picked up and soon the robot was bobbing back down the trail, heading towards the Doc's place.

Naruto's senses came back to him. Drip, drip, drip, he was hearing water drip somewhere. The air tasted stale, stagnant, his body was wracked with pain. Naruto's eyes opened and he looked around. He was in a sewer somewhere.

"**Come."**

Naruto looked around, searching for that deep booming voice. Where had it come from?

"**COME!"**

It was a command, and one Naruto felt an obligation to oblige. His feet dragged him forward, moving him towards the voice. His speed soon picked up as he travelled.

"**Come."** The voice was down a side passageway, one that Naruto made a beeline for.

It wasn't many more turns before Naruto stood in front of the speaker; in front of the golden cage holding back the massive fox with reddish orange fur and nine whipping tails. It was the Kyuubi no Yoko that had attacked Konoha so many years ago.

Naruto steeled himself, preparing to deal with the entity that plagued his existence back in Konoha. Naruto stepped forward, noticing that the cage was just as strong as always. He chuckled a little bit. "Guess you're stuck with me even in the afterlife, huh big guy?" Naruto called out.

The fox snorted. "**Not quite ape. We are still alive, that much I assure you. However… it was extremely close. Had I not reinforced your skull with my chakra, that man's bullet would most assuredly be lodged into your brain instead of just pressing against it."**

Naruto made a small sound and then inclined his head. "Thanks then, I suppose."

The Kyuubi nodded its head back. "**I admit I am quite curious as to see what you will do. This is the closest anyone has come to killing you."**

Naruto lowered his head a little bit. That was the question, wasn't it? What would he do? Naruto raised his head up, deciding to think like a survivor of the Mojave Wasteland. "I'll pay him back in kind." Naruto said, punching his palm. The survivors of the Mojave Wasteland had no qualms about killing a bunch of raiders who tried to attack their towns.

The Kyuubi let out a booming laugh. "**Oh, this shall be good. But you will want to learn these people's ways, including how to use a gun."**

Naruto nodded and he turned to walk away before he paused and looked back at the Kyuubi. "Do you have an actual name? Kyuubi sounds more like a title to me."

The Kyuubi's eyes widened slightly at being asked his name. "**Earn my respect and you earn my name boy. Killing the man that tried to kill you will be a start."**

Naruto inclined his head before turning to keep walking, knowing that it was time to wake up.

Naruto's eyes opened and he gasped in air. "Well how about that, you're awake!" Naruto tried to sit up to look at the elderly voice. "Take it easy there son, easy. You've just been through a lot. You've been out cold for a little over a week" The man said, helping Naruto sit up.

Naruto groaned softly and pinched the bridge of his nose, waiting for his vision to clear up. He sat in front of a light skinned man with white hair, wearing a black outfit with a splash of red as a bandana. "Do you remember your name son?" the man asked.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said and glanced up to the man.

"Heh can't say it's what I'd pick for you, but if that's your name, that's your name. I'm Doc Mitchell. Welcome to Good Springs."

Konoha

The air was abuzz with excitement. Everyone could feel it in the air, feel the competition as the Chunin Exam Finals were about to begin. Betting was going on, people had their favorites to win. Merchants sold their wares far from home, making vast amounts of profits. It was a day for everyone!

The Chunin Hopefuls were all lined up, Konoha and Suna making a show unity amongst the group. It was Gaara followed by Kankuro then Temari, beside her was Neji, then Shino, and lastly Shikamaru. Three were missing from their group.

A Jonin with a Senbon in his mouth and his headband like a bandana stepped forward, about to get the show on the road. It seemed that Naruto wasn't going to make it. A shame really, he had high hopes about the kid.

A red flash alerted everyone and the Jonin stopped chewing on the Senbon, prepared to spit it out as a preemptive attack.

As the red flash died down around him, Naruto stood back up and began to look around. The air was fresher than what he was used to, certainly more so than most of the Mojave Wasteland. He looked up from under the brown leather cowboy hat he had on his head, and he began to glance around, clucking his tongue. "No…" he said, his voice significantly deeper. He turned around quickly, taking everything in as his brown leather ankle-length duster spun with him. "No, no, no, no!" he shouted and kicked the ground with a pair of brown leather boots. "DAMN!" he shouted

Finger-less Gloved hands came up and Naruto raked them down his face, groaning. He did not want to be back here! Not now, not when he finally had a life worth living back in the Mojave! Naruto curled his hand into a fist and punched his palm before he swiped the hat off his head showing off the golden blonde spikey sun kissed hair. He smacked the hat against his thigh, kicking off some dust from the brown leather pants.

His temper tantrum over, Naruto decided he needed some information. He put the hat back on his head and brushed off the brown leather vest he wore. He began to walk towards the highest ranking official on the field. Naruto also promptly ignored the whispers he heard in the crowd.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the field." The Jonin said stepping closer to Naruto, his hand near a kunai pouch.

Naruto paused, noticing the hand near the kunai pouch. Naruto brought his hands up and kept his fingers spread out. No need to piss off the Shinobi. "I just have three questions. One, what's your name and rank. Two, How many years has it been since the Yondaime Hokage has defeated the Kyuubi. Three, what's this event?" Naruto had a seriously bad feeling about the answers, but he desperately needed them.

The Shinobi chewed on his Senbon a little bit, listening to the man speak. He had a slight drawl to his voice, like an accent that's been acquired over the years. "Genma, I'm Genma and I'm a Jonin." No need to give his last name. "It's been a little over twelve years since the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi and this is the Chunin Exams, which you're interrupting." Genma said

Naruto groaned and felt like crying. It figured, it fucking figured. He switched to English. "Never, ever will I play around with Space-Time manipulation techniques. NEVER!" he shouted before sighing and switching back to Japanese. "I'm in these Chunin Exams Genma-san." Naruto said and lifted his shirt up, channeling chakra. "It's… it's a long story." Naruto said.

Genma recoiled like he had been smacked. He was well aware of the seal on Naruto's stomach. Every Jonin had to know it, had to be able to identify it and the fact it faded when Naruto stopped channeling chakra made Genma absolutely sure that it was the real deal. "How long has it been for you Naruto?" Genma couldn't help but ask.

"Ten years." Naruto said, sighing and sounding somewhat defeated as he headed over to the other Chunin hopefuls and stood beside them.

All of them were looking his way, but it was finally Shikamaru who spoke up. "Naruto?" he asked, completely baffled by what was happening.

"Hey Shikamaru." Naruto said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Don't ask, none of you, it's a ten year long story." Naruto said with a heavy sigh. "And I don't feel like talking about it."

Gone! In an instant ten years of hard work! In a flash it was all gone. Contacts, money, property, reputation, all of it down the drain because he wanted something to be easier.

The limit of the Flying Thunder God Technique was two mile. Anymore and it just wouldn't work. The Yondaime Hokage hadn't even figured a way around this problem. Naruto attempted to use Kurama's chakra to by-pass this. In the end, he ripped open a wormhole through space and time and ended up ten years in the past, in his world.

Frankly, Naruto didn't want to be here. He was a survivor of the Mojave Wasteland; he had to deal with the war between the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and Mr. House. Quite pointedly, Naruto refused to take a side in the battle. Naruto did his own thing really, he did what he felt was right, such as getting food supplies for the cook of the NCR, as well as fixing some of the man's equipment.

Naruto hadn't slacked off in ten years though. He had rigorously built up his speed to where he could run a four minute mile, even in the blazing heat of the Mojave Wasteland. He's dodged bullets and fought several Deathclaws in hand to hand combat, training his reaction and speed.

Naruto's accuracy was also spot on; he never missed his mark no matter what he used. Guns, energy weapons, sledge hammers, no matter what he didn't miss.

The fact of the matter was still that Naruto did not want to be in this place! He had no contacts, no mission requests, and no positive reputation. In short, Naruto had nothing in the Elemental Nations.

This was what brought Naruto to his decision to participate in the Chunin Exams. Naruto wasn't stupid, he had spent ten years using Magazines and Books and the Pip-Boy to work through the Pre-War knowledge. Frankly put, each of the Pre-War books that he gathered was a new thing to work through. He had even turned to Mr. House for some knowledge, though it always came at a price.

The Chunin Exams was a multi-international event. People from the Elemental Nations all over would come to witness the event. Naruto did not plan to stay in Konoha, no way in hell. He would rather be crucified by Caesar's Legion again. So, Naruto would use the exam to build up somewhat of a reputation. This way, when he left, he was more likely to get clientele for when he started a Courier business.

Naruto would show he was reliable and dependable in a variety of situations and that his clients could trust that no matter what the world threw at him, he would manage quite fine.

"Welcome to the Chunin Exam Finals! Despite some excitement beforehand, we're ready to get this show on the road!" Genma shouted out, working the people up into a frenzy. "We have the prodigal Hyuuga Neji versus the new and mysterious Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma noticed out of the corner of his eye that Naruto offered a slight tip of his hat. "So can the other contests make their way to the waiting box and will the opening contests stay here?"

The others made their way up to the box, though Shikamaru patted Naruto on the shoulder, having to reach up on Naruto's newer and bigger frame to do so. It's what happened when someone grew over a foot taller.

Naruto made his way over to the opposite side of Neji. Neji looked like he was about to say something but Naruto held up a hand. "Don't." Naruto said simply, loud enough and clear enough for the audience to hear him. "You and I are past the point where words have meaning. Our violence will speak for us." Naruto said and cracked his neck.

Naruto watched Neji give a nod of his head, it was indeed past the time of words. Naruto lowered his hands down to his hips, pushing back the duster a bit and revealing an ivory pistol on his right hip and a machete on the other side. The front of Naruto's belt had several scrolls for things and because he had parted the duster a bit, he revealed several scrolls on the inside. Naruto used the toe of his boot and drew a box in the dirt around him. It was like a challenge to Neji whose eyes narrowed at the sight of it. Good, Naruto got the point across and upset

Genma bit on his Senbon a little bit more. Naruto had gotten confident if he felt like he could beat a Hyuuga without moving from that tiny box. "Ready? Begin!" Genma shouted out and leapt back.

Neji rushed ahead, his steps light on the ground. He prepared for the blonde to throw something, that's where his hands were at the ready.

Naruto's hand moved to the ivory pistol and drew it, aiming it in record time. Neji stopped his run, though his momentum carried him forward. One foot was on the ground and he was starting a spin.

Four echoing and booming noises sounded off, like medium scaled fireworks exploding.

Pain erupted in Neji's knees and shoulders. He could feel the hot fluid spilling down his body as he spun forward a bit and he slid through the ground. He was screaming in agony, pain unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Naruto raised his boot up and put it on Neji's back and aimed Maria at the back of Neji's head. "Genma-san, call the match or I'm going to give Neji's brain another hole to breath." Naruto's opening move had been to shoot Neji in the shoulders and knees with his 9mm handgun. Neji dropped like a fly.

Genma moved over, checking the wounded Hyuuga, seeing that he was bleeding badly and whatever caused it was now aimed at Neji's head. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" he shouted and raised the blonde's hand.

Naruto walked away as the medics came out, holstering Maria and he tapped his Pip-Boy that Doc Mitchell had given him after the Khans had stolen the one that Johnson Nash had given him. Naruto activated its cartographer mode, and it started mapping out the region as Naruto walked.

Naruto was stared at as he entered the competitor's box, but he lost focus of everyone as he began the mental checklist of everything he had. Naruto carried with him at least one of every weapon he had ever found in the Mojave Wasteland and frankly that was a lot of weapons. He also had a scroll with all of the explosives he had ever found, because frankly he never knew what sort of situation he would find himself in.

Ammo count was pretty good too, so was medical supplies. Naruto pretty much bought a few places out a few times on ammo and medical supplies. Naruto had a few spare outfits of clothes, as well as a Power Armor from the Brotherhood of Steel. As for food, Naruto could try his hand at hunting in this place, there was bound to be some good food to be had. Naruto pulled a dented canteen off of his hip and took a sip of water while he went over the numbers in his head, before remembering all the stuff he lost.

He winced. He lost too damned much.

Naruto glanced at a scroll and fingered it. He did carry some miscellaneous stuff on him at times, including some solid gold bars, a few books, and thankfully one of those machines that would let him make his own ammo.

Naruto ended up being so engrossed in his musing and thoughts on what he did have anymore, as well as the thoughts he had for the future once he left Konoha that he didn't even notice that Shikamaru's match had come and gone and that it was now Sasuke and Gaara fighting in the ring.

That was until Naruto heard the screaming of birds and he turned his head to watch as Sasuke drove a lightning encased fist through a ball of sand that undoubtedly surrounded Gaara. Sasuke tried again to drive his fist through, sparking the technique once more, causing Gaara to scream out about bleeding.

Naruto saw the other Suna siblings move to Gaara's aid, just as Baki landed in the arena as well. Naruto glanced up and saw the Genjutsu taking place and hell began to erupt. War, war was engulfing the Leaf. A smoke bomb engulfed the Hokage box and Naruto watched as Suna and Oto moved to attack other Konoha Shinobi.

Naruto leapt out of the competitor's box, watching as Sasuke took pursuit after Gaara and his siblings. Naruto dodged a kunai swipe from an Oto Shinobi. He drew Maria lightning fast and deposited a round in the fool's head. Things were moving so fast; this was why he didn't want a part of the war for Hoover Dam.

Naruto dodged a second Shinobi, going for Taijutsu. Naruto was faster though, dodging the kick, the spear hand, even the chop. Naruto drew a laser pistol from the holster at the back of his waist and put a beam of the energy through the Shinobi's head.

Naruto turned to look at the Kage Booth as a purple barrier was erected. Naruto scowled as he was forced to deal with another Shinobi. Maria made quick work of the idiot as well, two rounds to his chest. He holstered Maria and from the second holster at the back of his waist he drew a plasma pistol.

Naruto rushed forward, making his way up towards the Kage Booth. He ended up having to kill a few more idiots who tried to attack him. They found out really quick that Plasma was not something they wanted to deal with at point blank range when it melted a hole in their chests.

Naruto paused at the Kage Booth, looking in on the Sandaime as he fought off against Orochimaru. Naruto raised his laser pistol and fired, watching as it pierced the barrier forcing the stalemate of Orochimaru and the Sandaime to break. He nodded to himself before he began to glance around.

Orochimaru was going to die today.

Naruto holstered his handguns, pointedly ignoring the ANBU who were watching him curiously. He unfurled his explosives scroll and began to do the mental calculations in his head. Frags had a lethal radius of about eight feet, plasma about ten. Naruto began to unseal the various mines he had. Bottle cap mines were more lethal, but had a lower radius of where they would be lethal to. Black powder charges weren't the most lethal, but they sent shrapnel all over the place and it could work on slowing the snake Sannin down. Naruto turned the entire rooftop into a minefield.

The rooftop was massive, about forty feet by a hundred feet, maybe bigger than that. The barrier constructed was small to keep the Sandaime in tight quarters, forcing him to engage Orochimaru, so it was about fifteen feet by fifteen feet. That gave Naruto plenty of room to make sure that the snake Sannin wouldn't escape, and if he just so happened to summon one of his snakes to try and escape, Naruto made a Shadow Clone that held the Tesla Cannon at the ready on a nearby rooftop.

There would be no mistakes made, Orochimaru was going to die.

Naruto then began to walk around the barrier. "Hmm… who to kill to drop the damned thing." He passed up the redhead, he was willing to kill girls but he wasn't a big fan of doing so. He passed up the fatty too. Naruto could probably bribe him with a Bighorner Steak…. Mm… Bighorner steak… Naruto lightly slapped himself on the head. "Focus." He said as he continued to stalk around the barrier. Naruto also passed the girly looking bastard. Naruto just felt pity for how he looked.

Naruto looked at the one with six arms, all of them touching the ground. "You." Naruto said flat out as he pulled out a scroll. "I don't like your face, so I'm going to remove it for you."

The six armed man looked up at the blonde. "Yeah, right. Nothing can pierce this barrier and survive." The man said braggingly.

Naruto nodded rubbing his chin. "Yeah… about that… you do know that with enough penetration and force that your barrier will fail to keep a projectile out right?" He watched the man's eyes narrow, so he understood projectiles at least. "Say Hello to the Anti-Material Rifle." Naruto said as he unsealed a massive and unwieldy rifle. "Twenty pounds, from stock to the end of the barrel it is about forty five inches, and fires .50 Magnum Armor piercing" Naruto said, slotting a magazine and pulling back on the bolt. "It has a muzzle velocity of about 860 meters per second, or almost three thousand feet per second." Naruto had a sadistic smirk on his face at the wide eyed look on the spider man's face.

Naruto watched as the barrier turned darker as the man poured more chakra into it. Naruto even watched with amusement as a golden substance began to secrete from the spider man's head, covering his face in a thick armor like substance.

Naruto shouldered the weapon. He'd rather fire from a base or something; the rifle had one mean kick to it. Lying down was out of the option too, it would take too long for him to stand back up and seal the rifle back up. Naruto aimed from less than five feet away, it was an easy head shot. Naruto still looked down the scope, double checking his aim.

BOOM! The gun erupted and kicked back at Naruto who held firm. The projectile launched through the barrier, the expanding gas from the muzzle actually blasting a hole through the barrier for the bullet to travel through. In a fraction of a second, the spider man's head exploded in a shower of gore, a hole being blow through the roof where the round went through.

Naruto created a clone and threw it the anti-material rifle with the scroll before charging in, drawing his plasma pistol and laser pistol once more. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he ejected the Energy Cells before he slotted new ones in having to tuck the spare gun under his arm to do so. He stalked forward as the ANBU moved to round up Orochimaru's body guards.

Naruto aimed the Plasma pistol at the red-armored form of the Shodai Hokage and began to fire. The man turned and began to move forward, but Naruto kept track of the man, dodging the strikes as he kept firing into him. Naruto placed his plasma pistol under the Shodai Hokage's head and he saw a look of gratitude and relief before Naruto pulled the trigger. Super-heated plasma began to act like an acid, eating through and making more plasma, turning the Senju Hashirama into a pile of green goo.

Naruto holstered that pistol and fired into the blue armored form, the much faster lasers making it difficult for the Nidaime Hokage to dodge. Naruto knew from Kurama that these two men were not fighting like they should have been, their bodies a fraction of what they really were in life. It was why Naruto was able to do as much as he could. Naruto fired off one more laser and Senju Tobirama turned into a pile of ash. No one ever explained why the laser weaponry did it, or more importantly how. No one really knew.

Naruto holstered the laser pistol as well, stepping in front of the Sandaime Hokage, hearing the old man pant. Naruto drew Maria again and ejected the clip before slapping a fresh one in. He'd get his clones to grab the brass and clips; he'd have to make his own ammo. Naruto then removed his hat and his coat, tossing them to the side where a clone appeared without hand signs and caught the thrown objects.

Naruto cracked his neck before he drew his machete, staring down the hungry looking Orochimaru. Naruto knew what the man wanted, he wanted power, and Naruto's weapons had such power. Naruto wasn't afraid though, it was nothing new. Someone always wanted something from him.

"Kukuku… Naruto-kun… How good to see you again." Orochimaru licked his lips with a sadistic smirk on his face. "You're proving to be quite interesting. First the bravado in the forest, now this… It's so… tempting."

Naruto shrugged. "Meh, you know how these types of things work." Naruto said. "You goof off using a technique, end up somewhere the fuck else. Really should have finished going over the Yondaime's Flying Thunder God Technique. Oh and Ji-san, sorry for taking the scroll." Naruto said, turning to look at Sarutobi for a moment before he stepped forward, his machete rising up and parrying Orochimaru's Kusanagi. Even still, Naruto got a shallow cut on his left bicep from the long sword.

Orochimaru was no longer smirking; instead he had a look of utter fury on his face. "You've been a thorn in my side for far too long. I don't know how you've aged, but it doesn't matter, I'd say I have twice the experience you have."

Naruto dashed forward, firing off two rounds from Maria that Orochimaru skillfully dodged. Naruto swiped with his machete and was forced to dodge the Kusanagi, hitting the side of it with Maria to knock it away. Naruto slashed upward with his machete and Orochimaru moved to stab Naruto through, Naruto spun around the side, aiming at Orochimaru's face and pulling the trigger.

The snake Sannin was just a little faster, and instead of being shot in the head, the round clipped his ear instead.

Orochimaru could better deal with the pain than someone like Neji.

Naruto glanced down as he felt blood dripping down his chest. He had been grazed along the chest by the Kusanagi. But Naruto had dodged, hadn't he?

"Wind Chakra…" Orochimaru said with a taunting condescending smirk. "It doesn't just lengthen the blade, it can also thicken it."

Hmm, Wind chakra? Kurama had mentioned elemental based chakra. Naruto wondered if he could learn his own elemental chakra.

It just told Naruto that he had to be more careful in this battle.

Naruto moved forward, swiping once more with the machete, he dodged a lance of wind chakra racing at him from a thrust of the Kusanagi and Orochimaru extending his chakra over the blade. Naruto knocked the sword down, the grip of his gun smacking into the flat of the blade and Naruto rolled forward under the sword as Orochimaru tried to take him off at the waist. Naruto then sprung up, the Machete in hand, moving to cleave Orochimaru in half.

Orochimaru dodged to the side and moved to cut the machete in two, his wind chakra more than enough to make it pass through the metal of the blade. He snarled as he was forced backwards from the blonde firing at him with whatever the object was in his other hand. He then parried a blow from Enma as Sarutobi got back into the fight.

Orochimaru blocked Enma's staff form once more, and dodged the hand that shot out of it before he moved to slice the hand off. His sword struck against metal and it recoiled back instead and he looked to the blonde who was firing with the object once more.

Five rounds left, he had five rounds left in the current clip for Maria. Naruto rushed in and leapt over Enma's staff form, kicking Orochimaru. Naruto picked up his speed a little bit, dodging to the sides as he slipped into his battle calm. Dodge, dodge, parry, shoot, duck, leap. It was like fighting a Deathclaw Mother once more.

Naruto developed the technique, slowly at first. He just lost himself, focusing in on the enemy as he did so. It was all instinctive as he moved; each little muscle that Orochimaru made caused Naruto to react. Two rounds went off, one clipping Orochimaru's shoulder.

Three rounds left.

Orochimaru leapt away and then his mouth opened wide before he shed his skin like a snake, appearing whole and unharmed. But Orochimaru stayed within the small area made by Naruto and his mines.

Naruto raced ahead, engaging Orochimaru once more, sword to machete. Naruto ignored the buildup of acid in his legs; he ignored the pain he felt from his wounds that he was slowly accumulating.

Naruto growled in pain as he made a miss step and the Kusanagi sliced deeply into his leg with blood beginning to pour out and fill Naruto's boot. Naruto raised Maria and fired off three more rounds before he clicked empty. He ejected the clip, but didn't have a spare handy.

Naruto continued to block and parry Orochimaru's swings, but the wounded leg made it considerably harder. He hissed in pain as he felt his shoulder receive the bite of the sword, enough that he dropped his Machete. Naruto leapt back on his wounded leg and checked himself.

He was fast, but even he made mistakes.

Orochimaru grinned at the grimace on Naruto's face. It was going better than he expected it to. He turned though and slashed a Naruto clone that was behind him and frowned at the sudden smirk on Naruto's face. Pain erupted in Orochimaru as he was engulfed by a green light.

Naruto grabbed a spare clip for Maria and slotted it into the pistol as he hobbled forward slowly. He also took out a dose of morphine, or as settlers in the Wasteland called it: Med-X, and injected himself in the thigh with it. The Stimpak was next to be injected, it was a mix of pain killers and growth steroids. Naruto felt his already impressive healing factor start to heal his body up.

Naruto looked down at Orochimaru who was missing his legs and one of his arms but still very much alive, not for long but alive. Naruto had used a very simple technique in coordination with his clone: Reverse pick pocketing.

Naruto planted a live plasma mine on Orochimaru, but the clone was caught before it could slip away. It didn't matter much, the mine was in place and activated.

Orochimaru coughed up blood as he stared up at the blonde. "What sort of monster are you?" Orochimaru asked, unable to believe that someone so inexperienced could take him down.

He was a God!

"Me?" Naruto asked, raising Maria and aiming for Orochimaru's head. "I'm just a Courier." Five rounds and Naruto blew a hole clean through Orochimaru's head large enough for the man's brains to leak out.

Naruto picked up his machete and strapped it to his leg before summoning up over a hundred clones to take care of the minefield he had turned the roof into. He paused next to the Kusanagi which had pierced the girly looking body guard of Orochimaru. Naruto yanked it out of the silver haired victim before continuing on. It was time to build his reputation.

It was two days later; the invasion of Konoha had failed stupendously. Orochimaru died and Gaara had been beaten down by Jiraiya when it was proved that he needed to get in on the action.

Naruto was at his apartment, gathering what little belongings he had into a scroll. He had already filed the paperwork necessary and turned in his head band, something he had constantly kept with him as a reminder of where he came from. Sarutobi had even accepted Naruto's resignation before giving him the bounty for Orochimaru's death.

Naruto glanced up when he heard his door open and then close, standing just inside his door was a white haired Sannin. "Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto said and stood up, packing his scrolls into his old bag and putting it over his shoulder.

Jiraiya looked to his godson and frowned a moment before going over. "I heard you resigned." Jiraiya said

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I… uh I need get out of here. Get out of Konoha, I mean. What happened to me, I can't explain so easily and it would take a while to do so."

Jiraiya nodded, understand what Naruto was saying. "So you mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique?" he asked.

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, it's funny. The technique is rather simple… you just have to decode the instructions written on the handle of every one of those kunai." Naruto shook his head a bit and reached into his coat pocket, withdrawing the actual scroll which looked to have about ten years of wear and tear. He handed it to Jiraiya. "I don't need it."

Jiraiya looked down to the scroll and accepted it. "I wanted to take you on as an apprentice." Jiraiya said suddenly.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry…" Naruto said before he sighed and shook his head. "I hope to see you out there on the road Sensei."

Jiraiya nodded and stuck out his hand for Naruto.

Naruto shook the white haired Sannin's hand and pulled him closer, clasping the man on the back in a one handed hug. "Thanks, Ero-Sensei." Naruto said before he moved past to head on out.

Naruto didn't know where his road would take him, but he knew that he was determined to walk it. He waved to the gate guards, heading past them as he put his hat on his head. "Maybe I'll start in Wave?" Naruto asked himself softly.

End Chapter

A/N: The pilot chapter of a new story and Naruto has already killed Orochimaru and left Konoha. I'll try to keep the training scenes down in this story a bit more and focus on Naruto's work as a Courier.

'Til Next time!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Robert Edwin House activated the large terminal at the top floor of his Lucky 38 Casino. He could mentally command his army of Securitrons, but commanding certain ones 'Face to Face' was a bit of a throw back before the War and he hadn't taken such extreme measures to ensure his longevity and the continued existence of his beloved city.

House looked over at the returning Securitron. "Victor, what do you have to report on Mr. Uzumaki?"

"Well Boss, our compadre hasn't been seen in about two weeks, and when I went to where he was last spotted, I couldn't find any trace. Not footsteps, no trails, and with him not being seen for two weeks I think something unexpected happened."

House closed his eyes on the screen and dozens of scenarios played out. He was aware of Naruto's Flying Thunder God Technique; perhaps something unplanned had gone awry with that. House offered a sigh, though none of the machines really needed to hear it.

He remembered the only time he felt fear in the past two hundred years.

It had been when Naruto was twenty. Security measures had forced House to awaken within the stasis pod that acted also as a life support. With fearful eyes, he had looked up to see a hand on the glass, wiping the moisture from steam away. Blue curious eyes had looked down on him and he knew that for the first time in two Centuries someone was seeing the real him, the frail him.

He had heard Naruto whisper something before the blonde moved away. The blonde tapped at the console near the stasis pod, House's heart rate spiked. He was terrified. If Naruto opened the pod, he wouldn't live for very long. His beloved city needed him.

House remembered vividly how Naruto debated on whether it was humane to leave House like that, or if it would be more humane to kill him.

Then Naruto did the most unpredictable move that House could have thought of. He expected to die, or to have his Stasis pod compromised and for Naruto to be an agent for the NCR or Caesar or worse be freelancing. He was well aware of the Yes Man that Benny had gotten programmed.

No, Naruto simply left the console alone and took the elevator back up to the Penthouse Suite.

Unpredictable, wild, untamed, and on no one's side but his own that was what House realized that day about Naruto.

When confronted later about it, Naruto merely stated he did it to sate his own curiosity. He was a man of action and did things by the seat of his pants.

A measure of respect was gained towards the blonde that day.

"Victor, meet me at the exit out to the Wasteland." House told the rather unique Securitron variant.

House then slipped out of the super computer, his conscious going over towards the underground bunker that led to the outside world. Already, he could feel a Securitron's primary personality shutting down and allowing him to take command of the vessel.

House quite vividly remembered the day that he made that promise almost a year ago.

_Flashback_

_Sensors dotted throughout the Lucky 38 alerted House when Naruto appeared inside. A second jump, as determined by the fact the blonde disappeared off the sensors, before Naruto reappeared at the Presidential Suite._

_House panned a set of cameras in the Suite over Naruto, noticing the blonde Shinobi was carrying a young boy in his arms. The boy was placed on one of the relatively clean beds before Naruto turned around and stalked to the elevators. He barked an order at Victor to watch the kid, even going so far as to threaten the machine's existence._

_House wondered what had made the blonde so upset. _

_The elevator was activated and soon it chimed with Naruto stepping out._

_House flickered on the main terminal as he watched the angry blonde walk over. "Mr. Uzumaki, you're injured." House said once he was able to determine that Naruto was bleeding all over the floor._

"_They're nothing; most of the blood isn't even mine." A grisly reminder of some of the things one had to do to survive in the wasteland._

_Naruto paced back and forth, a gesture of when the blonde was thinking when he had the time. He paused and looked up at the monitors that displayed House's face. "At roughly 0830, Fiends attacked my home." Naruto said._

_So that was the source of the anger and the blood._

"_I went out to meet them, like I usually do, try and keep them from my home when they began a full scale retreat. I headed back only to find out they had kidnapped my adoptive son." Naruto said, clenching his hands into fists._

_House raised an eyebrow. "I was unaware you had an adoptive son Mr. Uzumaki. I also doubt proper channels for such still exist anymore."_

_Naruto shot him a glare. "It doesn't matter, I take care of him, and I'm teaching him. He looks up to me like I'm a father figure. Anthony has no one else."_

"_Humor Mr. Uzumaki, a poor attempt I concede, however I have not had a great deal of practice in such a long time." House said, trying to placate the blonde. He had felt his own irritation at the name of Anthony, but he squashed it furiously. The sins of his brother were not the sins of this child._

_Naruto nodded and began to tap his foot on the ground. Suddenly he pulled out the Platinum Chip, the advanced storage device for the upgraded OSD for his Securitrons. Naruto held it up to House, waving it slightly. "I'll take this to Caesar's camp, to the bunker under it and upgrade your Securitrons. I want something in return."_

_Hope welled up in House. The major keystone of the operation was to destroy Caesar while his forces were mainly at Hoover Dam. He had almost lost all hope in the nine years Naruto had been here. Naruto had no problem doing certain jobs but the costs of his services were no measly bottle caps. Naruto was not so cheap like the others of the wasteland, but his services were guaranteed to be successful._

_Already Naruto had dealt with the Omerta family over at Gomorrah, managed to get the Brotherhood of Steel to leave New Vegas alone without destroying them, he managed to kill Benny without causing much of a scene over at the Tops, Naruto even managed to get the considerable firepower of the Boomers on his side._

_But Naruto had held out, adamantly refusing to go to Caesar's camp and talking with the Warlord. It made having Naruto upgrade the largest bulk of his Securitron Army an impossibility._

"_Name it." House said after a few seconds._

_Naruto bit his tongue. He was obviously upset to have to get involved so much. "If something happens to me…" Naruto said and straightened himself up. "If I'm not around for Anthony, I want you to take him in." Naruto said, surprising House. 'Bring him to this big fancy tower, take care of him and teach him. You're a smart man House, I'm sure you can manage all of that. And when he's of age, and if it's still a problem, don't get him involved in this conflict over the Dam." Naruto said._

"_Agreeable." House said before he thought of something. "Under one minor change." House was interested to note Naruto's swift change to anger. "When he's of age, if the conflict is still going on, I lay it before him. Everything from the top, I won't keep secrets from him. I will let him make a decision like a man, I won't shelter him. If he decides to help my endeavors, good. If he decides not to help my endeavors, oh well. I will continue to watch over him."_

_Naruto frowned before nodding. "Let him make an informed decision then. But so help me House, if you renegade on our deal, if he is left out there or if anything else bad happens to him, I don't care if I'm dead or in another dimension. I WILL come back, and I will go to the fancy little stasis pod you have in the basement and I will disconnect you. I'll let you sit in that pod and slowly wither away giving you ample time to reflect on what you did wrong."_

_House felt a small bit of fear at Naruto's threat. "Very well Mr. Uzumaki. If anything bad befalls you, I will take over rearing young Anthony."_

_End Flashback_

Even to this day, House believed Naruto's threat. The blonde was wild and unpredictable after all. The trip across the Mojave was only a few days; the Securitrons were more than capable of crossing it in but a few days. Naruto had built his home near the river.

He could see the large amount of farmland that Naruto had dug up for his uses. He also saw the small but sturdy bridge that led over the river. House went ahead of Victor, mentally noting how Victor turned around to wheel across. Viable, after all Victor could handle the rear in case of Fiends.

House looked at the shack, hand built and of relatively decent size. He then reached up and knocked on the door to the shack with the Securitron's hand. In moments a young boy with fair skin and black hair and brown eyes opened the door. House was pleased to note that the boy held a 9mm Machine gun roughly aimed for center mass. The gun offered a rate of fire that would quickly drop most enemies, while at the same time the recoil wouldn't be too hampering.

House then noticed the boy look upset, the gun falling to the floor, soon followed by the boy falling to his knees. "No… Daddy…" the boy then began to cry softly. It seemed Naruto had the foresight to say something to Anthony.

House closed his eyes, the boy looked to be only about seven or eight, around the same age he was orphaned and his brother took everything from him. "Anthony, your father asked for me to take care of you if anything happened to him. I know it hurts; I lost my own parents around your age. I do not mean to rush you either, but we must hurry. Gather whatever you can carry and wish to bring. I will try to have some of my Securitrons secure the area so that you can return and grab more, but we're out in the open right now."

House watched the boy nod and head off. He then turned his head skyward. "I will keep my promise Mr. Uzumaki, wherever you may be."

Konoha

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, stood up and motioned to the shadows around him. Almost immediately, he was flanked by two ANBU as he grabbed his pipe and headed towards the council chamber where a meeting was being held.

He walked in and immediately he was bombed with questions that he quite frankly ignored and did not listen to as he moved over to his spot at the center.

He turned the chair around and sat in it, getting comfortable. "Enough!" he shouted over the questions. Sarutobi then began to clean his pipe out of the charred tobacco. It was giving him time to think.

"Hiruzen-" one of Sarutobi's teammate, Homura, began to speak.

"I said enough. I don't want a single word; the floor is not yet opened." Sarutobi said, glaring at his two teammates when Koharu opened her mouth. "Not. A. Single. Word." Sarutobi emphasized before he went back to cleaning his pipe.

With his thoughts gathered, Sarutobi pinched out some of the tobacco leaves and stuffed them into the bowl of the pipe, chewing on the tip. He grabbed a box of matches, instead of activating the sparking seals engraved on his pipe, and light one up. He then began to smoke his pipe, enjoying the soothing tobacco for just a second.

"This meeting is called in response to Koharu and Homura's questioning about one Uzumaki Naruto. Now, before we begin, Uzumaki Naruto is to be referred to as his name, not demon, not demon brat. Do not call him a weapon, or anything signifying that he is not human." Sarutobi said with an air of finality. "That man has personally saved my life now, I will not allow for any disrespect of him. I watched as he corrected _My_ mistake. You will show him the respect that he deserves. It is a sad day for this village when one of its members would rather a wasteland where every day he had to struggle for just about everything than the village of his birth! I will not allow for the disrespect of the man, and I will kill whoever calls him anything derogative." Sarutobi said quite angrily. He inhaled on the pipe for a moment. "Do I make myself understood?" he asked.

He heard a few half-hearted mumbles and scowled.

"Allow me to try this again." Sarutobi said, raising his voice. Sarutobi flooded the room with his intent of authority. "Do I Make Myself Understood?" he called out his voice much stronger.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" The Jonin Clan Heads were sitting at attention now, their voices loud and clear. Even the usually sloth like Shikaku was sitting straight up, his back straight.

Killing intent was when a Shinobi flooded the area with a murderous aura. It made people freeze up. The Intent of Authority was made for battlefield situations when Killing intent was flung around like candy. It essentially instilled a backbone in those following a leader.

Even the civilians were sitting a little higher in their seats, their back's straight.

"Now, the floor is opened for any intelligible questions." Sarutobi said, inhaling his pipe.

The council was obviously confused. Sarutobi had a steel to him now, a fire lit under his ass that he hadn't had a little while ago.

Sarutobi's gaze was directed to a silent thump of wood. He knew his old rival well enough; the old War Hawk was gathering his own thoughts, no doubt trying to figure out how to phrase his question. "Hiruzen, if I may ask, why did you allow Naruto, the village's Jinchuriki, go?" Danzo asked. He tried to be polite and within Sarutobi's guidelines while at the same time reminding Sarutobi of Naruto's position/worth in the village.

"I let him go because had I not allowed him to leave, I would have had to list him as an S-Class Missing Nin when he ran away. Naruto was not going to stay in this village, even had I gotten on my hands and knees and begged for him to stay." Sarutobi said and watched Danzo sit down, satisfied with the answer.

"Hokage-sama," Sarutobi looked over to Tsume. "What exactly happened to Uzumaki-san? A month ago he was well… a brat and a shrimp."

Sarutobi glanced around, noticing many of the people were curious. "A little over two weeks ago the Flying Thunder God Technique was removed from the vault in the middle of the night; a duplicate scroll was placed in its place. Just a few days ago, I found out that it was Uzumaki Naruto that had taken the scroll, no doubt looking for a little extra edge against Hyuuga Neji in the finals. Recklessly, Uzumaki Naruto deciphered and attempted the technique, burrowing a hole through Time and Space. He landed in a place known as the Mojave Wasteland." Sarutobi noticed that several of the members of the council had furrowed their brows at the title of the place. "Essentially it is a desert area ravaged by Nuclear Fire. According to what Naruto-kun said, a Nuclear device has destruction comparable with an unchallenged Bijuu, with the added effect of radiation." Radiation was extremely uncommon in the Elemental Nations, but not unheard of.

"He spent ten years there, surviving in a world so vastly different than our own that Naruto-kun has changed." Sarutobi said and he took an inhale of his pipe.

"Hiruzen," Sarutobi looked to Homura. "maybe it should have been prudent that we had kept Uzumaki Naruto in the village, obtain his… weapons and gain his knowledge on them. They could have given us quite the edge, Konoha would be unchallenged."

Sarutobi noted some supporters of this idea on both sides. "Homura, if you would like to challenge Naruto-kun by yourself, you're free to do so. However I saw my predecessors turned into a pile of glowing green goo and a pile of ash that was scattered to the wind after Orochimaru brought them back with his cursed technique. Then, I watched as Naruto-kun planted an explosive device on Orochimaru without my student realizing it." Sarutobi said. "I will not commit any of my Shinobi to go after Naruto-kun."

Sarutobi then turned and looked at Danzo. "And Danzo, I expect your 'private security force' to remain right where it is." Danzo stiffened just slightly. "I have no problems with you hiring retired Shinobi for your personal security, but if they move to go after Naruto-kun then I will be forced to re-instate them as active Shinobi under _My_ command. Any possibly harmful seals on their bodies will be removed and you will be fined heavily for putting possible harmful seals on civilians of Konoha.

"Are there any more intelligible questions?" Sarutobi asked He noticed no one was going to speak up. "Then I have two more pieces of business. The first and foremost, the Law regarding Uzumaki Naruto's status as the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko is still in place. It will also be enforced more strictly. I have allowed a certain amount of lenience regarding the law, but no more. I will not tolerate people trying to bend an S-Class Law around." Sarutobi said

Sarutobi then sighed and leaned back in his chair a little bit. His old bones ached and the hat was wearing heavily on his head once more. "The second order of business is that I have chosen my successor to be the Godaime Hokage. Senju Tsunade will take my place, I have already sent Jiraiya-kun out to retrieve her and bring her back. I welcome all of you to bring up the business of Uzumaki Naruto up with her, whether retrieving him to be in Konoha or anything else, but for me, the matter is closed. This meeting is adjourned. Good day, all of you." Sarutobi stood up and strolled out of the room

He wasn't going to budge on the matter of Naruto, no more.

Outside of Konoha

Naruto walked along the road, he felt the sun beating down on him but he wasn't bothered by it, especially not after having trekked the Mojave as much as he had. Naruto swung his arms a little bit as he walked, his hand brushing past Maria a little bit. His walk was loose, controlled, and comfortable.

"_Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say" _Naruto sang as he walked, his deeper baritone voice giving a nice sound to the song. While he was at home he listened often to Mr. New Vegas, they may have been the same tracks after a while, but it was a good break. "_No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip/ the stranger there among them had a Big Iron on his hip."_ Naruto just wished he could still get the Mr. New Vegas broadcast, anything to break the silence sometimes.

Naruto thought of little Anthony, dancing without a care in the world to the song. He smiled ruefully and lowered his head, especially as he remembered Anthony playing with Victor, even going so far as to borrow Naruto's .357 Revolver, empty of course. "You better keep your promise House." Naruto said softly.

"Hey Itachi, think this is the Kyuubi Gaki?" Naruto turned his head to view two men in black cloaks with red clouds on them and wearing straw hats. Naruto's gaze was drawn to the slashed out headbands though.

"He does match the description going around Konoha Kisame." The second, shorter man said.

Naruto didn't think, he unsealed a frag mine and tossed it before he ripped off his coat and started to run, his coat up under his arm and his hat bobbing behind him, the cord keeping it hanging off of his neck.

He heard the mine go off and he kept running with every ounce of speed he could muster. He tapped into Kurama's chakra, accelerating himself even faster. He didn't give a damn who they were, not a single damn.

Only two types of Missing Nin wore outfits that stuck out like that: Stupid ones and those apart of an Organization. If they were part of an Organization like Naruto believed, they were powerhouses. No Organization would send their B-Team to take on the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, there could be no chances taken.

So, Naruto went with the tactical retreat.

Also his trip to Wave was out.

Every part of his body burned, it ached, but he kept pushing himself to run as fast as he could. No one could keep up with him, either he out-paced them completely, or they kept up and he outlasted them. Endurance and speed, he had trained both aspects in the Mojave to the best of his ability.

Naruto panted a little bit as he arrived at a town; his hands were on his knees as he tried to regain his air. He stood up and tugged on his coat, leaving his hat to dangle against his back. If someone was after him, likely for the Kyuubi, he was going to have to start carrying around a bigger weapon on his back, but he'd handle that in the morning. He snuck into an alleyway and tucked a Flying Thunder God Kunai under a dumpster. Just in case.

Naruto then headed into a local bar and sat at the table, ordering some sake. He's tried whiskey, beer, scotch, wine, vodka, but he had never had sake. After accepting the bottle, Naruto drank some, trying the taste. He decided it wasn't bad, but he'd prefer some of the other stuff he had. Except Moonshine, that stuff was too harsh.

Naruto continued to drink a little bit before he glanced over and saw a black haired woman sitting alone and drinking some sake. She wore a black kimono and had a pet pig with her. Naruto stood up and walked over, sliding into the booth, noticing her look up. "What's a pretty woman like you drinking over here by yourself for?" Naruto asked.

The woman snorted quite unladylike. "Beat it; I'm not some easy hussy that will swoon over your compliments and a gorgeous face." She said.

Naruto held his hands up. "Easy there, I never said you were. I simply said you're a pretty woman and I asked why you're drinking by yourself."

The woman clucked her tongue. "Sorry, I've been hit on for the past two hours. My mentor or mistress has been gambling again and frankly, she sucks."

Naruto blinked a little bit. "Have you tried telling her that?" he asked as he drank some more sake with the dark haired woman.

"No, she should know she sucks by now. She has the nickname of the Legendary Sucker after all."

Naruto winced. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said and held his hand out. "I'm Naruto." He said.

"Shizune." She said and took his hand out before her lips quirked into a slight smirk. "Fishcake huh? Your parents must have hated you."

"It's Maelstrom, and I wouldn't know." Naruto said leaning back a little bit. "My parents died the day of my birth."

Shizune grimaced a bit. "I'm sorry to hear that Naruto-san."

Naruto shrugged before he reached over and filled her sake saucer. "A toast to new acquaintances, eh Shizune-san?'

Shizune raised the newly filled saucer. "To new acquaintances." She agreed before she drank the sake down.

After several hours of drinking and talking, Naruto telling Shizune several stories involving his time in the Wasteland, they ended up in front of Shizune's room, her mouth locked on his own, and his hands grabbing her ass.

The door was opened and Naruto took her inside of and quickly shut it behind him. Moments later the sounds of pleasure were filling the night.

Naruto woke the next morning and groaned, rubbing his face with his left hand. "Oh…" he tried to sit up, but he had a heavy weight on his right arm and side. He glanced down to see his hat on a head of black hair. Naruto blinked a few moments before the actions the night before came back to memory. "Oh…" he said

Naruto then heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see a busty blonde woman with a blue jewel on the middle of her forehead. She was tapping her foot, her arms crossed under her bust. She had a look that was a mix of annoyance, anger, and amusement.

Naruto reacted on instinct, having no idea who this woman was. His left hand dropped to the side of the bed, where the holster for his laser pistol was and he drew it, aiming it at the woman's forehead, though he noticed she tensed, ready to fight.

"Uhh…" Shizune made a small sound. "Not now Naruto-kun… I can't go for a fifth round." She cuddled against his chest a little bit more.

The blonde woman's face ended up with a grin as Shizune unknowingly diffused the situation. She then moved around, still being watched by Naruto's weary gaze, his hand still holding his Laser pistol. "Shizune, sweetie, wake up." The woman said, tapping Shizune on the shoulder a little bit.

Shizune made a small sound before she blinked and looked up to see the grinning blonde woman. 'Tsunade-sama!" Shizune shouted, bolting up before she yanked the blankets to cover her form, unknowingly showing off Naruto's body.

The now named Tsunade flicked her eyes over to the still unnamed blonde man in her apprentice's bed. He definitely had some good toned muscles, not quite bulky like those that used weights to build them up. Her gaze swept lower. Oh yeah, she could see why Shizune went four rounds with the man being hung like that.

Naruto blushed a little bit and grabbed his hat off of Shizune's head and covered his groin. "You do know it's rude to stare right?"

"With what you have, you should be walking around with it hanging out proudly." Tsunade said. She was well aware that women could be perverts as well as men, but no one was as bad as Jiraiya. "You going to introduced us Shizune?"

Shizune blushed a little bit. "Tsunade-sama, this is Naruto…" she frowned and looked to Naruto. "I never got your last name."

"That's probably best." Naruto said and stood up, grabbing his leather pants and pulling them on. "I'm just an out of work Courier Ninja, looking to start his own business."

Shizune bit the tip of her tongue a little bit. "Naruto-kun, this is my mentor, Tsunade. She's taught me everything I know."

Naruto slipped on the cotton shirt before he pulled on the leather vest. "She's the one that sucks at gambling?" he asked.

Shizune winced a bit and looked sheepish.

"What was that Gaki?" Tsunade asked, her age and anger peeking through and making her call this young man a brat.

Naruto raised his hands up. "Whoa, easy there compadre, I'm just saying what Shizune-chan told me." He said

"Oh really?" Tsunade asked, looking pointedly to Shizune.

"I was drunk?" Shizune offered in a defense.

Tsunade tapped her foot before she shook her head. "Clearly." She then looked over at Naruto. "If you're looking for work, Konoha could surely use you."

Naruto scowled a little bit as he did his belt and fixed the holsters for his load out equipment. "I left there, retired after Orochimaru invaded the Chunin Exams and I killed him."

Tsunade looked surprised for a moment. "Prove it." She said. She didn't quite believe the young man; half her age at least, had beaten Orochimaru.

Naruto unrolled a scroll and unsealed the Kusanagi to show it off as proof. He watched Tsunade nod before leaning against her desk, clearly deep in thought. Naruto sealed the Kusanagi back up before he thought for a while and unsealed his shoulder rig for his weapons.

From a scroll, Naruto unsealed a proto-type Gauss Rifle that was a little heavier and had four extra coils along the barrel. He holstered it on the custom shoulder rig and adjusted the straps crossing over his chest a little bit. He then put his jacket on and practiced removing the Gauss, making sure it was still easily removed before he put it back on. He needed to be able to remove his jacket if he needed to run faster.

Naruto pulled on his boots and then put his hat on his head. He watched as Shizune and Tsunade talked, likely about where they were heading next. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out an object. "Shizune-chan." He said, garnering the black haired woman's attention. He flicked his hand out, throwing an object to her.

Shizune looked surprised before she caught the object and looked down to her hand. It was a platinum colored chip. "A poker chip?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's become somewhat of a good luck charm for me." Not at first, he was shot in the head for fuck's sake. "I thought some of my good luck can rub off on you, and by proximity, your Mentor. I've cleared out entire casinos, can she say the same?" Naruto then headed on out, ready to get his journey on the road.

Tsunade watched the blonde for a moment. She knew of a Naruto from Konoha… but that would be… "Shizune, let's go. We're heading to Konoha. I need some answers," And Sarutobi or Jiraiya would be the only ones to have them.

Shizune looked surprised as she finished getting dressed. "Hai Tsunade-sama." She said as she moved to follow her mentor, picking up Tonton as she did so.

Naruto wondered around rather randomly over the next two weeks days, making sure to avoid Shinobi. He eventually made it to some unnamed dive bar. All Naruto knew was they served some sake and it was enough for him.

It was also a good place to hear some things or get work.

"Excuse me…" Naruto turned to look at an older man, looking out of place in the dive bar. "Are you the Courier from Konoha?"

Naruto turned to give the older man with brown hair and glasses a more focused look. "I am, and you are?"

"My name is Asama Sandayu. I have a request to make, a mission, if you will, of the utmost importance. I cannot pay you now, but when you see me next I can pay you then." Sandayu said.

Naruto scratched his chin. "Alright, where am I going, who am I delivering to, and what am I delivering?" he asked.

Sandayu looked somewhat relieved, overjoyed even. "I need you to take a message to the Land of Snow." Sandayu reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll. "The message is encoded; it's not that I don't trust you but…"

Naruto held a hand up and unrolled the scroll, pulsing chakra through it. He nodded his head, assured it wasn't a bomb. He rolled it up and then led Sandayu over to a table. "How do I get to Snow?"

In about a week, Naruto was on a boat, her captain willing to take him to Snow. The trip would be about three days. Sandayu had also informed Naruto that he would be hiring Konoha Shinobi for the protection of someone he was in charge of. Naruto had no idea who though.

It wasn't long before Naruto touched down in Snow, this time he wore a full suit of Power Armor, gifted to him by the Brotherhood of Steel, with a modified camouflage tarp for a cloak. He wore the armor for a few reasons despite it being so bulky that it dramatically lowered his agility.

The first was he could wear his load out, including the newly added Gauss Rifle, without all the holsters. Specially designed magnets kept everything in place.

Second, he was in the Land of Fucking Snow. The Power Armor had a built in climate control, so it still felt like an even seventy degrees inside his suit.

And, Naruto was briefed on the Shinobi using something called Chakra Armor. Whatever the Hell it was, Naruto frankly didn't give a damn about it because he would be able to handle them, especially with the Gauss Rifle on his back.

Naruto trekked through the snow relatively quietly and calmly. Even still, his Pip-Boy worked in Cartographer mode and he was getting a pretty decent lay of the land. He was even able to drop Navigation Points which would be major cities and such. It really was a useful map making device.

Naruto eventually met with the contact he was supposed to meet with. He delivered the message like a good Courier and then headed out of there. He had to procure a row boat with a sail attachment to leave, his original boat having already left.

Still, he felt like he could pull it off. Despite this, he was about a day into the three day journey when he ran into an iceberg that hadn't been there before. He also heard fight.

Naruto made his way over, stalking through the snow and stopped on a small ridge. He drew his Gauss rifle and tapped into the Helmet's protocols, syncing up with the rifle and zooming in. He could see… standard four man Konoha team fighting Snow Ninja. No, five man team. Kakashi was off fighting someone else. It looked like… team Gai. Neji had to stand back with their charge, some regal looking person, maybe an actress given all the filming equipment around. He also stood beside a purple haired older woman. "Neko?" Naruto questioned silently to himself.

An ANBU captain, a former ANBU captain, and what was considered one of the best Genin Assault teams, it seemed a bit like overkill to Naruto.

Naruto also noticed Sandayu, so the old man was there to pay him.

Still, Naruto watched all three fights. Tenten was taking on a pink haired woman that was flying around, making it difficult for the bun-haired Kunoichi to get a bead on her. Lee was fighting, though it looked like he wasn't quite one hundred percent. "I wonder who healed him." Naruto said before he watched Kakashi order a retreat, a giant Narwhal of all things appearing out of the blue made of ice. Naruto then slipped away as a second one formed, classing with the first and tipping towards the iceberg.

Naruto ran. The Konoha Shinobi made it back onto their ship before he got close, but he went onto the water, water walking like it was second nature. He leapt and landed onto the boat in a roll, about to spring to his feet when he saw all of the Konoha Shinobi prepared to fight. "_Wait!" _Naruto shouted, his voice coming out rather electronically due to the helmet.

Naruto then stood his full height and released the helmet before plucking it off, surprising everyone there. "Excuse me while I go speak with my client." Naruto said slipping past them.

Naruto paused as he felt someone following him and turned to look at Tenten. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"What's this?" Tenten asked, almost caressing his Gauss Rifle.

Naruto thought about it for a moment and unattached it from the magnet on his back and ejected the Microfusion Cell. He then turned and handed it to her. "If it's not in one piece when I come back, your ass is mine." Naruto said before walking on to talk with Sandayu, going below deck for a more private conversation.

Naruto moved Sandayu to a private corner. "What the hell is really going on?" Naruto asked sharply.

"Ex-Excuse me?" Sandayu asked, surprised as Naruto pushed him against the wall.

"Enough with the bullshit. Enough with the pretense, enough with the lies." Naruto said and narrowed his eyes at Sandayu. "I'm able to tell when I'm running messages to a rebellion or something similar. What. Is. Going. On?" Naruto reiterated.

Sandayu bit his tongue, prepared to continue to hold out when Naruto punched the hull of the ship by his head, cracking the wood. "Fujikaze Yukie is actually Princess Kazehana Koyuki." Sandayu said suddenly. "Her uncle, Doto Kazehana, usurp the throne from her father, Kazehana Sosetsu. I am one of Sosetsu-sama's advisors and I am currently leading a rebellion against Doto, we seek to put Koyuki-sama on the throne. Please, help us."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his face with his gauntlet a bit. "Fine, I'll Doto for you and I will retrieve Koyuki if she tries to run away, but not if she is captured. That is what the Konoha team is for." Naruto said. "As for payment, both for the Courier run and this work, I want two things. First, I want you, or Koyuki, to endorse me. I'm still in need of reputation and clients. Second, I want the latest version of this chakra armor that these Snow Shinobi are wearing."

Sandayu looked surprised. Naruto's services were rather cheap for what Sandayu himself was asking for. "Of course!" he said, hope blooming in his chest.

Naruto turned and walked up to the top of the deck once more, pausing beside the purple haired ANBU captain. Naruto turned to face her. "N-" he started.

"Yūgao. My name is Uzuki Yūgao." She said after holding a hand up to keep Naruto from saying her codename.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde said and shook her hand, playing along with the idea that they had never met. "I take it you heard the situation?"

"Hai, I will speak with Kakashi-Sempai as well as Gai's team." Yūgao said.

"Wait, before you do that. Why was this team constructed the way it was? What's been going on in Konoha? I've been out of touch for a while." Naruto said.

"Very well," Yūgao said. "Tsunade-sama, with her apprentice Shizune, has returned. Sandaime-sama has stepped down and Tsunade-sama has taken on the title of Godaime. Tsunade-sama has healed several of the injured from the Chunin Exams and the invasion, including Lee-san and Neji-san. There have been a few whispers that many on the Council are petitioning for Tsunade-sama to order your return, though I doubt it will go through. Tsunade-sama seems to like you, despite never having met you."

Naruto coughed a little bit and blushed. "We uh… we did meet once Yūgao-san." Naruto said a little sheepishly. "I ended up getting drunk with her apprentice and we… uh…" Naruto coughed a little bit; sure he got his point across

Naruto could have sworn he saw a faint dusting of red on Yūgao's face, but he could be wrong. "The team was put together because Kakashi-sempai had experience. He was on a mission here in the Land of Snow, escorting Princess Koyuki out of here years before. Gai-san's team is as combat ready as they can get and Konoha is unfortunately running skeletal shifts. Tsunade-sama is running a full review on all Shinobi teams, sending some back for re-training on teamwork and practicality purposes. Haruno-san and Uchiha-san of Team 7 were just two of those sent back for teamwork training and practicality training. I have heard that Haruno-san is being considered by Tsunade-sama for Medical training. I was picked for the mission as additional support. Given Neji-san's Taijutsu preference, it can be inferred that here it would be mostly useless but he still acts as support and a tracking aspect."

Naruto nodded some, rubbing his chin. "Explain the Chakra Armor to me." He said. He knew of it, but he didn't quite know what it did.

"It enhances their chakra levels and chakra control, while at the same time absorbing chakra from Ninjutsu and rendering Genjutsu completely ineffective." Naruto turned to see Neji walking up. "Might I speak with you Naruto-san?"

Naruto glanced to Yūgao who nodded before making her way off to speak with Kakashi. "What do you want Neji?" Naruto asked. He held no malice for the Hyuuga, not after the thorough ass kicking he handed the Genin at the Chunin Exams.

Naruto caught his Gauss Rifle that was thrown at him by the Hyuuga. "Fire it; I want to see it work." Neji slipped his hand into a pouch and drew out a Shuriken.

Naruto shifted his hold on the rifle, making sure everything was in proper working order. "Did Tenten set you up to this?" Naruto asked as he slotted in a Microfusion cell.

"No, I am doing this of my own accord. I want to know the distance it can reach." Neji said as he took a few steps back. He took a running start before he hurled the Shuriken with all of his might. His Byakugan then flared to life, letting him track the Shuriken.

Naruto raised the rifle up and looked down the scope. He still hadn't put his helmet back on yet. He tracked the Shuriken, leading it a little bit with his rifle. At the apex of the arc that Neji had thrown his Shuriken at, Naruto fired. The rifle made a loud sound that caught everyone's attention just before the Shuriken was obliterated by the shot.

Neji looked out over at the smoldering bits of metal falling into the water. "Just inside my eyesight." He said softly before he turned on Naruto. "Why did you not assist in helping us defend Fujikaze-san when we were attacked by the Snow Shinobi? You were within range to offer ranged assistance and I can tell that your weapon fires some sort of projectile that is not based on Chakra. We could have been rid of the Snow Shinobi, even if just one of them."

Naruto looked out over at the boat, noticing several of the crew and the Konoha Shinobi were interested in why he did not offer any assistance. To this, Naruto sighed softly before shaking his head. "It wasn't my mission." He said bluntly and simply. "I am freelancer now Neji. If word got out that I was interfering in missions undertaken by the Big Five, my contracts would dry up faster than a drop of water in Suna. As it stands now, I have also been contracted by your client as of ten minutes ago, to offer support in a limited fashion. If Fujikaze-san runs, I will chase her and bring her back. If Fujikaze-san is captured, you and your team are responsible for her well-being, not me. I'm also in charge of eliminating the problem that plagues Fujikaze-san." Naruto said staring at Neji in the eyes.

"Naruto is right." Kakashi said walking up suddenly. "Naruto being a freelancer means that he has to worry about his reputation. If he wishes to remain a freelancer he will need work, work that is often given to one of the various Hidden Villages." Kakashi then turned to Naruto who had put his helmet back on his head and looked out over the water, looking to be ignoring Kakashi completely. "Neji, can you leave us so that we may have a private conversation?"

Neji gave a nod before walking away. Naruto tapped his foot on the ground a little bit; he had hoped Neji would remain. Oh well, this confrontation was bound to happen sooner or later.

Kakashi watched his former student continue to look over the ocean as the boat continued on. "Naruto… can we talk?" Kakashi asked, trying to be polite and civil, despite knowing his last meeting with the blonde had been anything but.

Naruto turned and leaned against the railing of the banister and then made a hand motion for Kakashi to go ahead. He could have just walked away, but he wanted to settle this.

Kakashi seemed to ponder his thoughts for a moment. "I… I want to say I'm sorry Naruto. I made a bad call in not training you or giving you anything to train yourself with. I'm sure I remember telling you that Team 7 had been my first team to take on; I didn't have much experience with training others. I felt I owed Sasuke given that my teammate Uchiha Obito had given me his Sharingan eye. It wasn't right of me to focus solely on Sasuke, no matter the cause. I should have stayed out of his training given that I was not training you."

Naruto remained motionless, the helmet he wore keeping his face obscured from Kakashi's view. For all Kakashi knew Naruto was making faces at him from behind the helmet.

Kakashi sighed and dropped his hands and shoulders a bit before squaring himself. "Go ahead. Hit me; yell at me, do whatever. But I tried Naruto to clear this rift up between us." He said

Naruto pushed himself off the railing, standing straight up. "_Ten years ago, I swore to myself that if I ever got the chance to do this that I would and that would be that. I didn't want to hold onto hate for the rest of my life, especially considering I was happy in the Mojave Wasteland. I had a family that counted on me not to allow my hate to cloud my judgment._" Naruto squared his shoulders. "_That being said," _Naruto struck like lightning. His armored first plowed into Kakashi's jaw as he stepped into the swing of his fist. It was a solid right hook and it had the desired effect. "_FUCK YOU KAKASHI!" _Naruto roared out.

Kakashi staggered back like he had been hit by a freight train, his jaw obviously broken.

Naruto removed his helmet and held it against his hip watching Kakashi for a moment. "And that's that. You didn't try to kill me, so I won't be trying to return that favor." Naruto said, turning and walking away from Kakashi.

Kakashi touched his jaw tenderly with his hand. It was solidly broken, and he felt a few teeth knocked out. He turned his head away and pulled down his mask, spitting out three bloody teeth into his hand before the mask was back in place.

"He doesn't like you much Sempai." Yūgao said coming up and activating a medical Ninjutsu to heal his jaw. She wasn't bad at them, but she wasn't able to do much more than mend broken bones and other in field patch jobs.

Kakashi watched Yūgao for a moment. "No," he said once he was able to. "But I wronged him first, and I think after that punch he got a lot of his dislike out of his system. I doubt I'll ever have his respect, but he'll treat me cordially I think."

The purple haired ANBU captain nodded before starting to fill Kakashi in on the situation.

Naruto made his way to Koyuki's quarters and knocked on the door. He wasn't surprised to get no response. He tried again, rapping his knuckles on her door much harder. Again, no response; Naruto already did not like this woman. He took two steps back before stepping forward and bringing his armored boot up and through the door, stepping through after his leg.

Koyuki looked outraged he had done that, standing up almost to berate someone but paused as she fully took in Naruto's armored form. She wisely sat back down before making a scene. "What do you want?" she asked, glaring at Naruto's armored form.

Naruto walked over to her and pulled off his gauntlet. "Give me your arm." He said.

"Why should I?" Koyuki asked, narrowing her pretty eyes at the blonde.

Naruto made a sound of annoyance. "Look, either you can give me your arm peacefully, or I can grab your arm and likely give you a decent bruise. It's your choice Princess."

He watched her stiffen in surprise, like no one had ever called her that before. Her shoulders slumped a little, her head falling. "So you know then?" she asked in a cold tone.

"Yeah, Sandayu told me." Naruto said and accepted the offered arm. He channeled his chakra and formed a Flying Thunder God beacon on her forearm.

"I don't even want to go back!" Koyuki suddenly shouted. "But do they care?! No!" she said and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "All the director cares about is making this stupid movie and all Sandayu wants is for me to take the throne from my uncle. Like we can even beat him." She shook her head.

Naruto crossed his arms, listening to the woman rant. "I know how you feel." Naruto said, getting her to look at him. "I uh… I managed to get out of Konoha for a while, for ten years actually. I uh… I experimented with a Jutsu only one man had mastered and it transported me somewhere else. Suffice to say, I won't be tampering with experimental Space-Time Jutsu anymore but that's beside the point. The point is I ended up somewhere where I had a reputation, family, money, property, contacts, clients, and importantly happiness."

Koyuki looked to him, her eyes trying to figure him out. "Why'd you leave?" she asked.

Naruto sighed and leaned against a doorframe. "The Mojave Wasteland is about a hundred and twenty miles by a hundred and twenty miles, I don't know the exact measurements I never walked the full thing. It has mountains, crevices, dried lake beds, etc." Naruto rubbed his face and put his gauntlet back on. "It's a long, long walk to make over and over again. Sure, I could run it but those are pretty much the only two options. There are no boats to traverse up and down the only river with, there are no trains, and there are no carriages. The only mode of transportation was walking. Sure, I had a technique that would allow me to instantly teleport up to two miles away," Naruto said and shrugged before sighing. "But the problem is I could only make five jumps in a consecutive time frame before I had to rest for about six hours."

Koyuki looked confused. "What does this have to do with anything? And why could you only make five jumps?"

"The reason is cost. The technique runs on a lot of chakra, massive quantities. The air here, in the Elemental Nations, is saturated with chakra. The seals draw in the massive quantities they require from the air, the soil, the trees, the animals, even other Shinobi. Now, in the Mojave Wasteland, I was the only one with chakra." Naruto said tapping his foot a little bit. "I tried to make the technique run on… a different source of chakra, a powerful source of chakra that is near limitless."

Naruto sighed a bit. "It ended up burrowing a hole through Space and Time once more, bringing me back to the Elemental Nations and worse yet, ten years in the Mojave Wasteland, had been ten days here. I lost everything and I've tried repeatedly to go back since I've gotten here, but the air is so saturated with chakra that I can't do it. I can jump two miles as much as I damned well want, but so what? I'll never be able to hold my son again, watch him grow into a man." Naruto shook his head.

Koyuki watched Naruto for a little while. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly and looked down, bundling her kimono up a little bit as she balled her hands. She felt so weak. "How do you keep going through it all?"

Naruto looked to Koyuki. "The same way you will when you're on the throne, because eventually you will have to own up to your responsibilities." Naruto felt slightly hypocritical, telling her such a thing, but to be fair he owned up to his responsibilities. He was the Jinchuriki for Kurama, not Konoha's weapon. "You smile to make the people smile, you persevere for the people that count on you and you hope that eventually everything will be for the better even if deep down you know it won't be."

Koyuki frowned a bit more. "I'm not sure I can smile anymore, not actually mean it at least."

Naruto shrugged. "Never said it had to be a real smile, but if you feel it does… find a memory to hold onto and hold on tight."

Naruto turned about to walk out. "Wait." He turned his head to look at Koyuki. "What about tears?" the princess asked, tilting her head.

Naruto shrugged. "Not all tears are tears of sadness. Laugh hard enough and long enough, you'll see what I mean." He said before walking out. "_To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day/ Hardly spoke to Folks around him, didn't have too much to say" _Naruto sang loudly as he began to walk out.

He noticed the crew watching, but he just kept going. "_No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip/ for the Stranger there among them had a Big Iron on his hip." _Naruto unsealed his revolver and began to spin it around like he saw in some of those videos at the Lucky 38. When questioned why everything still worked, House had been all too proud to talk about it.

"_A Big Iron on his hip…" _Naruto sealed Maria up and holstered the .357 and practiced drawing it, making sure it was still a smooth motion. A .357 had been his go to side arm before he got Maria. "_It was early in the morning when he rode into town/ He came riding in from the south side, slowly lookin' all around"_ Naruto stood up on the railing of the ship and walked along, looking out over the water and in the air.

"_He's an outlaw loose and running came the whisper from each lip/ and he's here to do some business with the Big Iron on his hip/" _Naruto drew the side arm and fired twice, both times the hammer just clicking. "_The Big Iron on his hip..." _Naruto sang, holstering the side arm and walking along the railing a bit more, just lost in a few memories of his own.

He had the attention of the Konoha Shinobi most certainly; after all, the blonde was still much of an enigma to them.

"_In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red/Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead/He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty four/And the notches on his pistol numbered one and nineteen more/ One and nineteen more…"_ Naruto drew his side arm once more, firing off two more clicks as he rubbed his thumb over the notches along his own sidearm: Twenty eight. He had started the Notches when his son had been taken by Fiends. His notches ended when he got him back.

"_Now the stranger started talking made it plain to folks around/ Was an Arizona Ranger wouldn't be too long in town/ He came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead/And he said it didn't matter he was after Texas Red/ After Texas Red…" _Naruto's voice broke a little as he remembered more memories; the song had been playing when he first found his son. Naruto had only been fifteen and Anthony's real parents had died in a Deathclaw attack. Naruto had thought of just putting Anthony out of his misery, but Naruto just couldn't pull the trigger.

"_Wasn't long before the story was relayed to Texas Red/ But the Outlaw didn't worry, men that tried before were dead/twenty men had tried to take him, twenty men had made a slip/ Twenty one would be the ranger with the Big Iron on his hip/ Big Iron on his hip…" _The song had played when Anthony had been taken and Naruto had felt such rage. He didn't put on the Power armor; he didn't even throw on his duster. He just stalked after the Fiends to hunt them down with nothing more than the clothes on his back, the revolver in his hand, and the machete on his hip.

"_The Morning Passed so quickly it was time for them to meet/ It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street/folks were watching from the windows, everybody held their breath/ They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death/ About to meet his death…" _The song had played at the base of the Fiends also. It was like the song was haunting him. It was Anthony's favorite song from Mr. New Vegas.

"_There was forty feet between them when they stopped to make their play/ And the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today" _Naruto holstered the revolver and faster than even Kakashi could track, Naruto had it drawn once more, six clicks signaling he had fired it six times. "_Texas Red had not cleared leather fore a bullet fairly ripped/And the Ranger's aim was deadly with the Big Iron on his hip/Big Iron on his hip…" _

Kakashi was worried about the look of murder on Naruto's face.

"_It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered round/ There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground/Oh he might have went on living, but he made one fatal slip/When he tried to match the Ranger with the Big Iron on his hip/ Big Iron on his hip/Big Iron, Big Iron/ when he tried to match the Ranger with the Big Iron on his hip/ Big iron on his hip…" _Naruto hopped off the railing, holstering his gun once more. His eyes were closed deep in thought.

Yūgao moved and grabbed Kakashi's shoulder as the man began to walk over to Naruto. "Perhaps, Sempai, I would be better suited to talking to Naruto about this. He has… history with you." She said, watching Naruto unseal a leather hat and walk off, twirling it around in his hands.

Kakashi nodded. "I'll defer to your judgment on this one Yūgao." He said softly and then watched her walk off, no doubt to go talk to the blonde who was heading to one of the private rooms.

Naruto was a little startled when Yūgao grabbed his arm and led him towards a different room. Once inside of it, he immediately could tell it was Yūgao's for the trip. Everything was neat, tidy, efficient, and she had a spare sword next to her bed. He was surprised when he was forced onto the bed. "Talk to me Naruto." She said softly, sitting next to him. "What's going through your head?"

Naruto lowered his head, looking to his hat. His favorite hat. Naruto closed his eyes, trying to rid himself of the tears. "I made a mistake Yūgao." He said softly. "And I'm paying dearly for it, and I'll always pay for it. I had a son, a healthy boy that I adopted." Naruto felt a few tears slide down his face. "Anthony loved this hat. Kami, I hated that name." Naruto shook his head. "But it was his name and I know all too well about not owning much, so I let him keep his name." A name was special, it was singular. Only the owner had the power to make that name a good thing or a bad thing or something to be forgotten.

Yūgao watched the blonde unseal a bottle of dark liquor and take a large swig from the bottle. Yūgao considered her actions for a moment before she grabbed the bottle and took a swig. She was surprised, but didn't cough at the harshness of the liquor. It was definitely stronger than Sake. Usually she wouldn't indulge on a mission, but she felt the blonde needed someone to talk to, someone to drink with. Such a thing could happen at a worse time she supposed. "I… I lost someone I care about as well." She said softly, looking at the glass bottle the liquor was in. "Hayate… my boyfriend… he… was murdered before the invasion." She said and took another hearty swig.

The two sat in silence for the most part, drinking more and more. Sometimes they would swap good stories, memories of a better time. Others, they would just drink. Naruto opened up to Yūgao much better than he thought he would.

Naruto woke up the next morning with a loud groan. He felt like shit. No, scratch that… he felt like baked then hammered shit. He opened his eyes and glanced down, blinking twice. He had a full head of purple hair resting on his chest, with his hat on the head. "Why do they always take the hat?" he asked rubbing his face with his free hand. He barely remembered anything, but flashes were coming back.

Including a memory of Yūgao on top of him, riding him with his hat on her head.

Naruto never got so drunk he didn't remember the full night. It may take him a while, but he always remembered. He looked off the bed and around the clothes. "Well, that would do it…" he muttered softly. They had started drinking Whiskey, but they ended up drinking beer also and scotch, and some wine, and even some vodka. He counted a bottle of one each at least. Whiskey there was about five bottles on the ground.

Naruto then remembered Yūgao screaming in orgasm, crying out his name. At least she knew who was having sex with her.

Naruto glanced around the room and soon realized something that quickly woke him up more.

They hadn't put a silencing seal anywhere in the room and Yūgao was exceptionally vocal with her pleasure.

"Yūgao." Naruto said, lightly nudging her on the shoulder. He had to admit, the tattoo on her arm was sort of sexy… No bad Naruto! Focus! Well, he was just not on the right thing.

Yūgao snuggled into his chest a little bit more, one hip shifting her leg against his groin, making him hiss in a bit of pleasure. "I don't think I can go a seventh round Naruto-kun." She muttered.

Six? Damn, he must have gotten out a bottle of moonshine. Whatever was in Cass' recipe really ended up making him horny when he was drunk. "Yūgao-chan," Naruto tried again. She used the '-Kun' suffix so the '-chan' suffix must be alright to use with her. "We forgot the silencing seal."

Naruto never saw a woman bolt up so fast, not even the time Raul walked in on him and Cass while she was going down on him.

"Please tell me you're joking." Yūgao said and looked around, not even bothering with her modesty in front of him. She even got up and looked around in nothing but the hat.

"I'm going to post-pone all actions I had wanted to perform to stare at that fine ass." Naruto said, following the purple haired ANBU captain's ass with his eyes.

Yūgao turned to face him. "Naruto-kun, focus please." She said.

"I was focusing." Naruto said somewhat innocently before he stood up and tossed Yūgao her underwear and bra. "Best get dressed, I'll talk to the undoubtedly scarred Genin." He said as he started to get dressed once more in the power armor. Naruto then took his hat from Yūgao and re-sealed it.

"Hey, I liked that hat." Yūgao said frowning slightly as she started to get dressed; looking at all the liquor they had drank. She could attest to at least four of those bottles likely.

"It's my hat." Naruto said simply as he checked everything and groaned a bit. He was stiff, muscle wise, but nothing too bad. "It's my favorite hat nonetheless." He said

Naruto finished getting dressed before Yūgao and moved to walk out to confront everyone that heard. When he walked out onto the deck, movement stopped. Some of the guys looked at him with envy, Kakashi giggled perversely, undoubtedly remembering what happened last night. Neji and Lee couldn't even look at him in the eyes and Tenten was seething.

Naruto squared his shoulders and looked over the deckhands. "The fuck you looking at?!" he roared out and they soon rushed to get back to work. "Kakashi, knock it the hell off and go read your damned book, no one asked for your opinion! Lee, run suicides atop the deck until you can't breathe! Neji, get to the crow's nest! I want to know how many birds are in each of the cardinal directions and if you see land then you better come back down!" Naruto was briefly surprised when the two Genin saluted, stiffening in surprise before they went to do just that. Naruto then stalked over to Tenten.

"Pervert." She said like it was a scathing accusation.

Naruto crossed his arms. "To be fair, I've only had sex with three women. Only two of them have been since I returned to the Elemental Nations. Now before you start throwing accusations, think of it like this. Yūgao is an ANBU Captain; all you have to do is look at her shoulder for confirmation. Do you really think that if she didn't want it, I would have gotten as far as I did?"

"You got her drunk!" Tenten accused.

"Yes, we got drunk. I got shitfaced enough that I'm only barely remembering the night. But Yūgao and I are both Adults of legal drinking age. What we do is our own damned business, not the business of a fourteen year old girl who hasn't even lost her virginity yet." Naruto glared at Tenten finally getting her to look away.

It had been his and Yūgao's business, not the business of the Genin team, or Kakashi, or even the crew of the ship and the film. He hoped they hit land soon.

As it turned out, they did manage to hit land soon and it wasn't long before the production of the film was up and running. Sandayu had even briefed the entire team openly about the situation while they were still on the boat, making the director of the film all the more eager to do the work.

Koyuki also had a bit of fire to her now. Like a determination Naruto had seen many times before. She believed in herself once more. Naruto had seen Boone, Raul, even Arcade each have that determination. Sure, most of Naruto's companions really didn't trust each other at first, but Naruto took them through Hell and back because they believed in him. Shed enough blood beside one another and their origins didn't matter, what mattered was where they were headed.

Eventually they made it to a hill overlooking a cliff. They were filming for the movie and so he, with the Konoha Shinobi, stood off to the side. Naruto had put his helmet back on giving him somewhat of a menacing appearance. When he stopped he also tended to disappear because of the camouflage tarp he had turned into something of a cloak. It was a little unsettling for the camera crew.

Naruto's ears picked up something and his sensors showed something moving towards them at a rapid speed. He stood up and drew the Gauss Rifle. He ended up seeing a train down at the bottom of a cliff. 'Koyuki!" A man with slicked back hair called out standing on top of the train. "It's been so long, you never call, and you never write your dear uncle."

So this was the target. Naruto shifted a little bit, aiming the Gauss rifle.

"And why would I write to a tyrant that wants me dead?" Koyuki asked coolly and with quite a bit of bravado.

Naruto would give her the fact she had some balls apparently. He had Doto dead to rights, his cross hairs right over the bastard's chest. His Gauss Rifle would blow a hole through him. He began to squeeze the trigger, inhaling and holding. The Gauss made its signature sound just as some logs fell, one of the logs ending up in his line of fire. The log splintered and the two ends spun around a bit towards the train.

"Doto, your tyranny ends here!" Naruto stared at the top of the cliff at Sandayu who looked to be wearing some shitty armor. "For our Princess, we will defeat you!"

Naruto ejected the spent Microfusion Cell and quickly slotted the next one, chambering the round.

"Deal with them." Doto told his second in command, the Snow Shinobi that Kakashi had faced.

"It will be a pleasure." The man said as panels began to fall away from the train compartments.

Naruto stood up, raising the Gauss up and aiming down, but Doto was already heading down into the train. Naruto took a shot at his head anyways, but missed, though it did get the man to look at him as he ejected the spent cell and loaded another one.

"And make sure he dies." Naruto watched with fury as the man slipped away. Suddenly those slots in the train opened fire, dozens of kunai being shot out over the advancing wannabe samurai army. Naruto ended up only being able to watch with fury as they got slaughtered.

Naruto snarled and lashed out with a kick into a tree even as Koyuki and the Konoha Shinobi tried to help the injured. Naruto knew better, not many of them would make it.

Naruto turned when he heard a scream and he saw a flying balloon of sorts, a blimp if his mind remembered correctly from his lessons with House. Koyuki had been grabbed by the big man with the metal arm on a cable.

Naruto enhanced his helmet's zoom a little bit; he couldn't spot Doto which meant he wasn't taking a shot with the Gauss rifle.

"Neji, track them! We need to move fast!" Kakashi barked out to the Hyuuga prodigy.

"The… the castle… North… west…" Naruto heard Sandayu's dying words and went over to the man, closing his eyes.

"We should bury them." Lee said somewhat somberly.

Naruto turned his head to the spandex clad Genin. "_Later, you have a mission to complete. Move_!" he barked out and soon the Konoha Shinobi, minus Yūgao who volunteered to watch over the filming crew, took off in the direction that Sandayu had offered.

Naruto closed his eyes, feeling out the beacon. "_Damn!" _It was out of the two mile range. He took off running, going as quickly as he could. The second he felt it again, he would flash over to Koyuki.

Naruto managed to get to the castle just as the Konoha Shinobi were charging out. Naruto had gotten lost twice.

"Doto has Koyuki." Kakashi said when he came back. "He flew off using an advanced model of the chakra armor, heading towards the rainbow glaciers that are towards the North East."

Naruto gave a nod and touched his hip, a panel opening to reveal a kunai. He grabbed it and threw it North East. He jumped to the beacon on the kunai and caught it in midair, throwing it again. Flashing to the kunai caused his concentration on the beacon on Koyuki to break, making the mark disappear. He could see Doto in the distance. Naruto kept up with his travelling, sometimes slipping and plummeting dozens of feet before he managed to throw the kunai again. It was a risky way to travel.

Naruto threw the kunai at the ground and flashed himself down, his Gauss rifle in one hand and his kunai in the other. He stood up and slipped the kunai back into the specialized compartment. He just stared at the black armored form of Doto.

"It would seem Nadare has failed to kill you. No matter, I will handle you personally." Doto said and he went through a few hand seals. "Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard!" he called out, forming a dragon out of the snow around them that turned black and roared out a challenge at Naruto.

Naruto aimed at the ice below him and fired off the Gauss Rifle, blasting a hole into the water below him. He dived down, the systems of the power armor keeping the water out. Naruto swam, as best he could wearing heavy power armor. He turned his gaze upwards, switching to his thermal vision for his helmet.

He found Doto activating a machine that began to generate vast amounts of heat. Naruto swam upwards and before he could strike his niece, Naruto punched through the ice and grabbed the man's ankle before ripping him into the icy water below. Naruto snaked a hand around the man's neck and applied pressure.

Naruto then chinned the override switch in the helmet that shut every system down. The joints locked up and they began to sink, despite Doto thrashing. The tyrant tried to break free, but he just couldn't, not from the locked up armor that was steadily filling up with water.

Naruto took a deep inhale of air just before he was submerged in his armor. Doto soon stopped thrashing, his eyes opened permanently in shock and fear.

Naruto used his chin to once again press the switch in the helmet that activated the power armor. Systems began to boot up, warnings were flashing in the helmet. He couldn't swim upwards. He looked over to a bank. It was a thirty foot walk. Naruto released Doto, letting him float for a moment before he grabbed the corpse's ankle.

Naruto then began to walk under the water, pushing himself to move as quickly as possible. It was only about fifteen feet deep, but he was still submerged in his own suit of power armor. His lungs were already burning.

Koyuki watched, looking at the hole that her uncle had been torn through. The ice was already beginning to melt around the edges of the small lake they were in the middle of. She moved away and leapt over to the spring grass that was forming. Where was the blonde that had saved her?

Koyuki moved around to where she had seen the blonde drop through the ice initially. She then backed up a bit as she saw the armored head, water running down it surface, soon followed by the rest of the blonde's armored form. Water poured out of the crevices of the armor, pouring out of the armor in massive amounts. She heard coughing from behind the helmet and knew the blonde had likely been close to drowning.

She then looked to his hand where he dragged the corpse of her uncle, the same could not be said for the tyrant.

"_Mission Accomplished. I am taking this version of the Chakra Armor." _Naruto said from behind his helmet but soon released the clasps and pulled it off, coughing for air a bit more. "And of course, I hope you'll use the Mojave Express Courier services once more." Naruto said before panting a bit more. He then turned to Doto and sealed him up.

He had a name for his Courier Services, it had just spilled off his lips. Now he just needed a building.

Like was good.

End chapter

A/N: I have not decided who I will pair Naruto with, but I assure you he will not be paired with Shizune.

Yugao, I'm not so sure on yet. If I can figure out a logical and realistic way for her to leave Konoha to be with our favorite blonde then I'll likely pick her.

Also, this won't be a harem story. Naruto won't be in an actual relationship with more than one woman.

Peace!


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